Old habits die hard, it would seem, even for thunder gods. Over the next twelve months, the mighty Thor falls back into his double life as a part-time superhero and part-time medical doctor, as well as seeing a rekindling of his romance with the mortal nurse Jane Foster. Also, after a long interregnum, we finally catch up with Thor’s solo title again, which brings a return of his Asgardian supporting cast. It proves to be a lean time for the Avengers, plagued by membership upheaval and long periods of inaction, but Thor does what he can to get the team through it until he is overwhelmed by matters of the heart.
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
Let the tale be told of… The True History of the Mighty Thor!
January–March 1967 – Thor splits his time between fighting crime in New York City as the Asgardian god of thunder and working as a physician in his mortal identity of Donald Blake, M.D. In addition to caring for the retired superhero known as the Whizzer, still recuperating from his recent heart attack at Avengers Mansion, Don regularly checks on the young Asgardian woman Krista, who remains in a coma in a Manhattan hospital, the result of an ordeal in Hades over a year ago. Having rented an apartment for himself in the city, Thor finds himself once again spending more time in his mortal guise and has little contact with Asgard. Periodically, the thunder god travels to Rutland, Vermont to visit his adopted brother Loki, who appears to be in a near-catatonic state. Thor also attends the Avengers’ regularly scheduled meetings, along with Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis.
Thor is frustrated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures the Avengers that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
April 1967 – Thor agrees to once again serve as Avengers chairman, taking over for the Vision. As a prince of Asgard, he enjoys being in charge of the team, though he finds many of the routine administrative duties rather tedious.
May 1967 – The Avengers receive a message from Black Spectre claiming that they have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. Thor is relieved when the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax.
June 1967 – At Avengers Mansion, Thor joins Iron Man, the Vision, and the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, in trying to talk the disillusioned Captain America out of abandoning his costumed identity. Thor insists that Cap is the epitome of the noble warrior and nothing could be more glorious, but Cap counters that such sentiments are better applied to Asgardians than the men of Earth, where things are more complicated. Ultimately, Cap does decide to retire, leaving his costume and shield in a storage vault beneath the mansion. Though disappointed, Thor respects his teammate’s decision.
While taking a taxi to the hospital to check in on Krista, Don Blake sees a flaming message in the sky from the Human Torch, requesting that Thor meet him atop the Statue of Liberty. Curious, Don tells the driver to pull over and finds a shadowy alley where he can transform back into the god of thunder. When he arrives, Thor is surprised to find the Human Torch is there with Molto, the Lava Man. Mortally wounded, Molto warns them that his tribe’s fanatical witch-doctor, Jinku, has convinced their king to use a weapon commandeered from the Mole Man to cause every volcano on earth to erupt simultaneously. Molto fled to the surface to try to find Thor, only to be cut down by the radioactive energies from Jinku’s staff. He explains that Jinku, inspired by strange visions, is convinced the Lava Men will succeed in taking over the world. With his dying breath, Molto reveals that Jinku and the king are planning to test the device on Mauna Loa in Hawaii at any moment. Thor is saddened by his friend’s demise, but with no time to spare, he uses Mjolnir to generate a space-time vortex that carries him and the Human Torch to Hawaii, where they find Mauna Loa is already erupting. Thor immediately digs a deep channel in the ground to divert the lava flow away from a nearby village and conjures up a tropical storm directly above the summit. Using his enchanted hammer, Thor then tunnels down to Subterranea and confronts the Lava Men. The Human Torch follows, but the two heroes are soon knocked unconscious by the witch-doctor’s deadly staff. When he comes to, the thunder god finds he has reverted to his mortal form. Don realizes that Jinku must have tried to use Mjolnir as a power source for his world-destroying weapon. Not seeing the Human Torch anywhere, Don assumes the Lava Men must have killed him. He clambers up the side of the gigantic machine and retrieves his walking stick, immediately changing himself back into Thor. Wading into the Lava Men’s vast army, he is heartened when the Human Torch arrives on the scene along with hordes of Subterraneans. A fierce battle ensues with over half-a-million combatants, but with Thor and the Human Torch on their side, the Subterraneans eventually win the day. Before returning to the surface, Thor again gives the defeated Lava Men a stern warning to live peaceably in their own realm. The Human Torch is eager to brag to his teammates about his epic adventure, though as far as Thor is concerned, he was pretty useless.
Thor is sitting down to dinner at Avengers Mansion with Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis when the Inhumans Gorgon and Lockjaw suddenly materialize in the room. Gorgon is annoyed that the Avengers are not ready to leave for the Great Refuge to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, but this is the first the team has heard of it. Apparently, Quicksilver neglected to invite them, much to the Scarlet Witch’s chagrin. Nevertheless, she decides that they will attend in any case. Iron Man sets up a video link to the Inhumans’ royal palace so the Whizzer will be able to watch the ceremony, since he has come to believe that Quicksilver is his son. The Avengers then fly around the world to the Himalayas in a Quinjet while Gorgon and Lockjaw teleport home. When they arrive, they are greeted by the rest of the royal family—Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, and Triton—as well as the Human Torch, the Thing, Mister Fantastic, and Susan Richards. Mister Fantastic introduces the Avengers to Agatha Harkness, an elderly woman who helps take care of his two-year-old son, Franklin Richards, who lies in a coma. When Mantis asks about what appears to be a huge, grotesque statue in the center of the city, Medusa explains that it is actually a giant android called Omega, which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, created in order to weaponize the Inhumans’ prejudice against their servant class, the Alpha Primitives. After being deactivated, the android was left in a public square as a memorial. Triton insists that Black Bolt has instituted many reforms since that fateful day.
Several hours later, Thor joins the others for a royal banquet in a large stadium, from which Quicksilver is conspicuously absent. To cheer up Crystal and entertain the crowds, Thor, Iron Man, the Human Torch, the Thing, and Medusa put on an impromptu exhibition of their superhuman powers. However, Iron Man and Medusa fall under some form of mind control and attack the section of the stands where the Alpha Primitives are seated. The pair is quickly subdued and then lapses into unconsciousness. The Alpha Primitives start yelling accusations at Black Bolt, only to be shouted down by the Inhumans around them. The Alpha Primitives then leave the stadium in protest, and the festivities are quickly brought to a close. Thor realizes the situation in the Great Refuge is less rosy than the royal family made it seem. Later, he meets with Mister Fantastic and Black Bolt to discuss the situation, with Triton interpreting for his silent king. The meeting is interrupted when the Swordsman and Mantis raise the alarm—Omega has come to life and kidnapped Crystal.
Thor, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, and Triton rejoin the others and see that Quicksilver has finally deigned to make an appearance now that his bride is in danger. Through Triton, Black Bolt suggests that the Avengers, being impartial observers, may have better luck questioning the Alpha Primitives about Omega’s reactivation, and Thor concurs. Quicksilver leads his former teammates into the caverns where the Alpha Primitives live, only to lose his temper and attack them, demanding that they return Crystal at once. Mantis forces Quicksilver to stand down, but they both suddenly fall unconscious. Thor quickly determines that their symptoms match those of Iron Man and Medusa and calls for the Avengers to retreat back to the surface. The Alpha Primitives become a rampaging mob, but Thor keeps them at bay with bolts of lightning from his hammer. Outside, the Avengers find the other heroes carrying Maximus on a stretcher. Though he appears to be unconscious as well, Maximus leaps up as soon as the Alpha Primitives emerge from the caverns, grabs a blaster, and opens fire on them. In the ensuing melee, Maximus, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, the Swordsman, and the Human Torch abruptly fall unconscious as well. Finally, Omega strides across the plaza to the remaining heroes and reveals himself to be Ultron-7 in disguise. The murderous robot explains that Maximus brought the severed head of Ultron-6 to the Great Refuge after the Vision defeated him a few years ago and eventually fused his circuits with the Omega android, giving him Omega’s psychic abilities, which he has used to incapacitate the unconscious heroes. Ultron-7 then turns those abilities against all his enemies, intent on destroying their minds. His scheme backfires, though, as his psychic energies inadvertently awaken Franklin Richards from his coma. The boy lashes out at the source of the attack with his mysterious mutant powers, obliterating Ultron-7’s computerized brain. Thor and the others then look on happily as the Richards family is at last reunited.
The next day, as heralds fly over the Great Refuge blowing their horns to summon the guests to the wedding ceremony, Thor realizes that neither he nor Iron Man are particularly eager to attend the festivities due to their own star-crossed love lives. The thunder god reminisces about his love affair with Jane Foster and complains of how circumstances always seem to be keeping him and his new paramour, the goddess Sif, apart. Iron Man admits ruefully that he lost his heart to Pepper Potts, who is now married to his best friend, and has been searching for someone to replace her ever since. Noting that not everyone can be as lucky as Quicksilver and Crystal, Iron Man suggests they head to the palace. The wedding proceeds with no further disturbances, and at the conclusion of the ceremony, Lockjaw teleports the newlyweds off to their honeymoon. A huge celebration follows, which Thor enjoys tremendously despite the Inhumans’ peculiar customs.
The Avengers then return to New York, arriving at the mansion shortly before midnight. The Fantastic Four stop by on their way home to say goodnight. However, a sudden storm forms overhead, unleashing a series of deadly lightning bolts that strike the roof. Thor immediately launches himself into the sky and tries to dispel the storm, only to find that it resists his influence. He is startled when Agatha Harkness reveals herself to be a powerful sorceress by dissipating the storm with a magical incantation. She then informs the Fantastic Four that she will no longer be serving as Franklin’s nanny, for the time has come for her to take on a new charge—the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers are shocked, but the Scarlet Witch admits that she has long wanted to study true witchcraft and accepts Agatha as her tutor. As the Fantastic Four depart and the Avengers enter the building, Thor authorizes Agatha to take up residence there. He and Iron Man are then distracted when the Swordsman becomes distraught after Mantis abruptly ends their romantic relationship. Before they can resolve the situation, the Avengers are drawn outside by a commotion in the street. They find an intensely bright light shining down on the mansion from what appears to be a new star in the sky. Suddenly, their old foe, Kang the Conqueror, materializes and announces that the star is a signal indicating that the 20th century is ripe for conquest.
Using 41st-century robots called “Macrobots,” Kang easily defeats Thor, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, Mantis, and Agatha Harkness and takes them prisoner. The time-traveling despot then explains that the “newborn star” heralds the appearance of the legendary Celestial Madonna, who is to mate with the most powerful man in the world and produce a child who will conquer the universe. Kang is determined to be that man and to rule the heavens through the child. Due to strange disturbances in the timestream in the late 20th century, he was unable to determine the exact date the star would manifest itself, so he left a temporal monitor behind during his first incursion four and a half years ago. And although the historical records of the 20th century that have survived to Kang’s era are fragmentary at best, the positioning of the star above Avengers Mansion suggests that the Celestial Madonna is either the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, or Agatha Harkness. In order to solve that riddle, Kang teleports his prisoners to a laboratory hidden inside an ancient Egyptian pyramid, derisively leaving the Swordsman behind. He then conducts a battery of tests on the women while Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision struggle to escape the paralysis beam that renders them helpless. Fortunately, the Swordsman is able to pull himself together and mount a rescue mission, apparently led to the pyramid by Agatha’s telepathy. Kang dismisses the threat of the Swordsman, though, revealing that he designed the pyramid himself while ruling Egypt as the pharaoh Rama-Tut and left a vampire named Amenhotep behind to guard it. Upon entering, the Swordsman inadvertently releases the vampire, though it soon stumbles out into the sunlight and is disintegrated. Unconcerned, Kang seals Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision inside Macrobot exoskeletons, revealing his plan to send them out to kill key government personnel in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China, after which a strategically placed neutron bomb will set off a global nuclear war. With that, Kang loads all his captives into his time-capsule and flies to the United Nations building in New York City.
With the time-capsule rendered invisible by a cloaking device, Kang dispatches the Macrobot containing the Vision, only to watch him be defeated by the Swordsman, who has been joined by Hawkeye and a mysterious stranger. Deciding to cut his losses, Kang pilots the time-capsule to Peking, China, where he sends out the Macrobot containing Iron Man. Again, his scheme is foiled by the Swordsman, Hawkeye, and their unknown companion, now joined by the Vision. Enraged, Kang abandons his plan to go to Moscow and sends the Macrobot containing Thor out to recapture Iron Man and the Vision. As the cloaking device is deactivated, Vision is able to phase inside and free the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, and Agatha. The two younger women immediately join the battle, though they bicker constantly. Thor takes a beating inside the Macrobot, but his teammates manage to immobilize it long enough for the mystery man to open it up, releasing the thunder god. The enigmatic stranger then confronts Kang, who reveals him to be his own future self, living once again as Pharaoh Rama-Tut. As the two men start fighting each other, a strange wave of hallucinatory images wash over the Avengers—dreamlike images of the past, present, and future. Suddenly, Kang realizes that Mantis is the Celestial Madonna and announces that if he can’t have her, no one will. He fires his ray gun at Mantis, but the Swordsman leaps in front of her and is mortally wounded. Rama-Tut tackles Kang, and as they struggle, they inadvertently activate the time-capsule, which dematerializes. The Avengers are shocked and horrified by this sudden turn of events. The Swordsman dies in Mantis’s arms, cursing himself as a failure. The sorrowful Avengers honor their fallen teammate, then take his body back to New York. When they arrive at the mansion, Jarvis informs them that the Whizzer has moved on, showing them a morose farewell note he left behind. The Scarlet Witch is very upset by it. Thor encourages everyone to get some much-needed rest.
July 1967 – Over the next few days, Thor agrees to serve another term as Avengers chairman and Hawkeye continues to hang around, though he won’t commit to formally rejoining the team. He’s not shy, though, about claiming credit for convincing Steve Rogers to adopt a new costumed identity. Mantis requests permission to take the Swordsman’s body to Vietnam for burial, since she has decided to return home rather than remain with the Avengers. Thor grants her request, offering to have the team accompany her and try to unravel some of the secrets of her past. Mantis is touched by such generosity. The Scarlet Witch begs off, saying that Agatha Harkness is insistent that she continue her education in witchcraft without delay. Vision is also reluctant to go, concerned that he has had panic attacks in the heat of battle a few times now, but Thor and Iron Man assure him that they will look out for him. Hawkeye agrees to go along, so the five heroes are soon aboard a Quinjet on its way to South Vietnam.
After spending a night in Saigon, the Avengers fly their Quinjet to the abandoned temple of the Priests of Pama, where they battled the Star-Stalker several month ago. There, they conduct a simple funeral for the Swordsman and bury him in a shady spot in the garden. Afterwards, they are drawn into a confrontation with the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo, who are chasing a terrified local man. The trio claims that they are considered heroes in that region and were punishing the man for beating his wife. Iron Man loses his temper and charges at his foes, intent on settling some old scores, but Thor forces him to stand down, citing jurisdictional issues. The Avengers return to Saigon, where they broadcast a worldwide appeal for Captain Marvel or Rick Jones to contact them, since, like the Priests of Pama, Captain Marvel is of Kree origin and might be able to shed some light on the situation. When no answer is immediately forthcoming, they decide to check out some of the places Mantis remembers from her childhood. However, her memories turn out to be at odds with the facts, leading Mantis to start questioning her sanity.
Another day of investigating leads the Avengers to Saigon’s warehouse district, where Mantis remembers working in seedy bars and brothels. But again, no one there recognizes her. Suddenly, they are set upon by the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo, accompanied this time by an armored Vietnamese man calling himself the Slasher. Given that they are now in Saigon, Thor refuses to back down, so a fight breaks out. The thunder god focuses his efforts on the Titanium Man while his teammates deal with the others. In the course of the battle, it is revealed that the Slasher recruited his associates by claiming to be a Viet Cong sympathizer whom the Americans were harassing, but when he drops his bag of stolen diamonds, the Titanium Man realizes they were duped by a petty criminal and calls an end to the fighting. The communist supermen withdraw, leaving the Avengers to turn the Slasher and the stolen diamonds over to the local authorities. The following day, the Avengers meet up with Steve Rogers in his new identity as Nomad. He reports that he’s just wrapped up his first case, for the most part—he’s just waiting for the last two members of the Serpent Squad to turn up somewhere so he can apprehend them. After a battle with the villains on a Roxxon oil rig in the Pacific Ocean, he and the Sub-Mariner were pursuing Warlord Krang when he heard the Avengers were in Saigon and decided to pay them a visit. Nomad is surprised to hear of how the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. Thor and Iron Man both find their friend’s new black-and-gold costume to be somewhat off-putting but are glad that he seems to have put the Secret Empire scandal behind him. A few minutes later, Jarvis radios the team to report that there’s been no word from Captain Marvel but news outlets are reporting that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers posted on how his mission turns out.
A moment later, without warning, Thor finds himself teleported to a series of stone catacombs in the timeless dimension of Limbo, where he is taunted by the echoing voice of Kang the Conqueror. Thor tries to smash his way out of the labyrinth but finds that something has neutralized the power of his enchanted hammer, though he is still able to change into Don Blake. He soon encounters a lumbering monster that appears to be stitched together from various corpses. Don panics and strikes the creature with his walking stick. It retaliates by trying to strangle him. Don quickly turns back into Thor, and the thunder god easily bests the grunting, growling monster. Realizing that his mute foe is as much a pawn in Kang’s game as he is, Thor lets the creature go and follows it as it shuffles off down the corridor. The thunder god grows frustrated when he somehow loses the monster in the labyrinth, but then he finds Iron Man lying motionless on the floor. Unable to detect any signs of life, Thor vows to wreak terrible vengeance on Kang and all his minions. Soon finding Kang in the labyrinth, Thor attacks him but is unable to penetrate his personal force field. The thunder god is shocked when Wonder Man comes to Kang’s defense, revealing that he was brought back to life by technology belonging to someone called “Immortus.” The battle between Thor and Wonder Man is inconclusive, but the tide turns when the monster reappears, accompanied by the long-lost original Human Torch, whom Thor remembers encountering briefly during World War II. To Thor’s relief, the monster and the Torch refuse to obey Kang’s commands and declare the fight at an end. As Kang sputters in impotent rage, Vision steps out of the shadows, his left arm badly damaged. Wonder Man finds he is reluctant to attack the Vision, and Thor realizes it must be because they share the same brain patterns. Thor leaps at Kang, battering his force field with Mjolnir as a berserker rage comes over him. Unable to withstand the onslaught, Kang initiates a time-shift in order to escape. After the villain has dematerialized, Thor calms down and is astonished by the Vision’s revelation that he and the Human Torch are, in fact, the same android. Vision believes that this is the explanation for his panic attacks—certain circumstances were triggering residual memories of being entombed or submerged for long periods to prevent his former self from flaming on. However, they still don’t know how or when the metamorphosis took place.
Suddenly, they are all teleported to another part of the structure, what appears to be the throne room of an enormous castle. There, they find Rama-Tut with a similar-looking man called Immortus. Hawkeye and Mantis also materialize, along with Iron Man’s body and an unconscious fellow in black known as Midnight. Immortus assures the Avengers that Iron Man’s death is merely an illusion—the flow of time for the golden Avenger has been slowed down to such an extent that he is merely between heartbeats. Immortus reverses the effect, and Iron Man revives instantly, unaware that any time has passed since he collapsed. After restoring the Vision’s arm, Immortus dispatches Kang’s so-called Legion of the Unliving—the monster, Wonder Man, Midnight, Baron Heinrich Zemo, and the Ghost of the Flying Dutchman—back to oblivion. Rama-Tut thanks the Avengers for their help preventing Kang from causing chaos while chasing after the Celestial Madonna, then teleports himself away. Immortus then offers to facilitate the Human Torch and the Vision’s quest to learn the secrets of their past, saying he is sympathetic to their plight because, as the Avengers may have guessed, he is the same man who was once Rama-Tut and Kang. He assumed the name Immortus, he explains, after taking over the dimension of Limbo, where time is not linear. Furthermore, he offers to enable the rest of the Avengers to uncover the ancient secrets of the Celestial Madonna and how that legend has shaped Mantis’s life. Thus, he hands what he terms a “synchro-staff” to both the Human Torch and the Vision and sends them off into the timestream, explaining that, because their secrets are of recent vintage and still able to affect the course of present events, they must go on their journeys through time alone. Immortus hands another synchro-staff to Thor, saying that it’s fine for the others to accompany Mantis since their quest will lead them into the distant past. The enigmatic master of time then activates his machines again, sending Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Mantis into the psychedelic lightshow of the time-vortex.
The four Avengers soon find themselves flashing phantom-like through vast expanses of space and time while the synchro-staff telepathically narrates the events they are witnessing. First, they see the earliest events in the recorded history of the Kree race, when a delegation of Skrulls arrived on the planet Hala and proposed a contest between the Kree and sentient, telepathic plant-creatures called the Cotati to determine which would serve as the planet’s official representatives in subsequent trade negotiations. A Kree tribe was transported to Earth’s moon through a naturally occurring space warp at the edge of the solar system and there built the city within what the Fantastic Four have dubbed the Blue Area of the Moon. However, when the Skrulls chose the Cotati based on the garden they created, the tribal leader of the Kree, a barbarian named Morag, led his warriors to attack the aliens and slaughtered them. The Kree then plundered the technology of the Skrull spaceship, built a fleet of their own, and soon started the Kree-Skrull War, which has raged off and on for millions of years. Then, several centuries later, the Avengers see how pacifist Kree monks known as the Priests of Pama, who had developed their psychic abilities alongside a unique form of martial arts, entered into an alliance with the surviving Cotati. When the leader of the Kree Empire, the Supreme Intelligence, exiled the pacifists to a remote prison planet, the Cotati telepathically lured the Star-Stalker there. Using their martial-arts skill, the monks drove off the Star-Stalker, then warned the Supreme Intelligence of the threat it represented to Hala. Ultimately, the Supreme Intelligence agreed to the monks’ proposal to spread out across the galaxies in small groups to stand as sentries on all known inhabited worlds. The Priests of Pama then smuggled the Cotati to these remote outposts, where the plant-creatures could live in peace within their temples. One such temple was built on Earth, in the region now known as Vietnam. Thor notes to himself that this accords with what the Star-Stalker told them last year. Mantis realizes with a start that the Cotati garden is where they buried the Swordsman. Suddenly, the four Avengers find themselves materializing in that very garden, where they are met by Mantis’s father, the international criminal mastermind known as Libra, and the Swordsman, seemingly alive and surrounded by a greenish glow. A small spacecraft lands nearby and Moondragon disembarks. Thor, Iron Man, and Mantis remember meeting her last December and know her to be a friend of Captain Marvel.
The Swordsman prompts Moondragon to tell the Avengers of her origins, and the heroes are struck by the many parallels between her tale and what they’ve learned of Mantis’s youth. Then, Immortus emerges from a portal to the time-vortex, bringing along a large crate, and leads everyone inside the temple’s main building. Telling the Swordsman to carry on, Immortus disappears into the time-vortex again to search for the Vision. The Swordsman and Libra then explain that both Mantis and Moondragon were chosen as potential candidates for the Celestial Madonna and, when circumstances permitted, were taken to remote monasteries to be raised by the descendants of the Kree pacifists. The ultimate goal of the girls’ training was to enable them to communicate with the Cotati—the first non-Kree ever to do so. This formed the basis of Moondragon’s mental powers and Mantis’s empathic nature. After several years, while Moondragon continued on in the life of a priestess, Mantis was given a set of false memories of a childhood on the streets of Saigon and sent out into the world, where she experienced all the mysteries of humanity. As a result, Mantis was finally chosen to be the Celestial Madonna. Moondragon, it is explained, lacked a certain rapport with ordinary people—a conclusion the Priestess of Titan finds insulting.
Thor and Iron Man are then summoned outside by Hawkeye, who has discovered the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo lying in the dirt, badly beaten. Iron Man seems especially concerned by the amount of damage his foes’ armor has sustained. The Crimson Dynamo comes to and reveals that they were searching for the Avengers after their abrupt disappearance when they were ambushed by Kang the Conqueror. Realizing that Kang must be making another attempt to kidnap the Celestial Madonna, Thor wonders when the villain will learn his lesson and accept defeat. The three Avengers decide to split up and search the area. Flying around high above the jungle canopy, Thor realizes that Mantis is on the verge of becoming something akin to a god and thinks back to Jane Foster’s ill-fated attempt to become a goddess of Asgard a few years ago. Spotting Kang in a clearing below, Thor swoops down and attacks him, feeling another berserker rage coming over him. Though he puts up a decent fight, Kang proves to be no match for the god of thunder and is beaten into unconsciousness. When the three Avengers then discover that each of them has captured a time-displaced version of Kang, they realize the fights were a delaying tactic and race back to the temple. When they arrive, Thor barely has time to call out a warning before Kang’s time-capsule materializes. Using his force fields, Kang is able to kidnap Mantis and escape, and his three doppelgängers slip away in the confusion. Thor is ready to pursue the villain to the furthest reaches of time and space, but Immortus appears and tells him to stand down. Having brought the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and Agatha Harkness with him, Immortus finally opens the large crate, revealing Mantis inside, safe and sound. Laughing at his own cleverness, Immortus explains that Kang has actually kidnapped the Space Phantom, the sole subject of his kingdom of Limbo, who used his powers to trade places with Mantis.
Mantis then reveals the true destiny of the Celestial Madonna: to enter into a marital union with a member of the Cotati and produce a new lifeform—a hybrid of plant and animal who enjoys the best of both worlds. The Swordsman’s body has actually been reanimated by the eldest Cotati on Earth, who arrived with the Priests of Pama nearly 20,000 years ago, and Mantis has agreed to marry him. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch announce that it had better be a double-wedding because they’ve decided to get married too. Immortus is pleased and volunteers to officiate. Thor, as Avengers chairman, makes a motion that the team officially induct Mantis as a full member, to honor her and their time together. The other Avengers agree, and Mantis is truly touched. They all adjourn to the garden, where Immortus conducts a brief ceremony to unite the Scarlet Witch & the Vision and Mantis & the Swordsman/Elder Cotati in matrimony. Afterwards, Mantis and her husband transform into pure energy and ascend into the sky. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch decide on a more traditional honeymoon in French Polynesia. Moondragon flies the Avengers to Saigon to pick up their Quinjet, and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch part company with them there. Thor and Iron Man then fly Agatha back to New York in the Quinjet while Moondragon gives Hawkeye a lift in her spaceship. En route, they all discuss their strange experience over the ship-to-ship communicator. Upon arrival, the Avengers inform Jarvis of everything that’s happened. Moondragon decides that she will stay with the team for a while, so Jarvis prepares a room for her. Iron Man says goodbye and flies off to the Stark International complex on Long Island. The next day, Agatha Harkness and her cat head home, telling the Avengers that the Scarlet Witch has made a good start on her magical training.
Not long after, Thor is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in the city has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the world, but then the Fantastic Four notify the Avengers that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
August 1967 – Thor and Moondragon get to know each other as she settles into life at Avengers Mansion. Hawkeye seems to find her irresistibly attractive, though she clearly considers him to be crude and obnoxious. When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Thor leads Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Moondragon out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Since the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—the thunder god decides to split the team up. He sends Iron Man and Hawkeye to the south while he and Moondragon head to the north. There, they receive some help from the Human Torch and Medusa.
September 1967 – Hearing an explosion while flying over Manhattan one night, Thor goes to investigate and finds Hercules rescuing a young man from a burning tenement building. After summoning up a rainstorm to extinguish the fire, Thor joins Hercules and a police detective, Ralph Blumkenn, to discuss the matter. Blumkenn explains to Thor that, according to Hercules, the fire was caused by an elderly resident who used his gas oven to commit suicide while muttering about eternal life. This matches three previous suicides of people speaking cryptically about eternal life. Though initially skeptical that there’s some kind of conspiracy, Thor and Hercules agree to look into it. Not being much of a detective, Thor asks Odin for help, so Odin sends Sif to Earth. Thor and Sif are overjoyed to see each other again, but Hercules finds them annoying and goes off to solve the mystery on his own. Irritated, Thor takes Sif to the hospital to see Krista. They are relieved to find that Krista has finally emerged from her coma, fully recovered. Then, less than an hour after going off on his own, Hercules stumbles into the room looking utterly terrified and passes out. The thunder god rushes Hercules to Avengers Mansion and consults with Iron Man. When he comes to, Hercules goes berserk until Krista calms him down. Since Hercules’s memories of the past hour are fragmentary at best, he and Thor retrace his steps and are drawn into a terrifying encounter with a demonic being known as the Dweller in Darkness in its subterranean lair. The heroes refuse to give in to despair, however, and escape back to the light of day. Blumkenn meets up with them and reports that two patients at Bellevue Hospital were on the verge of committing suicide like the others but snapped out of it suddenly, for which he credits Thor and Hercules. Thor is shocked when Blumkenn says one of the patients was asking for him—a woman named Jane Foster.
Thor flies at once to Bellevue Hospital and storms into Jane’s room, only to find she has lapsed into a coma. Seeing her there, all of Thor’s old feelings for her come flooding back. Determined to maintain a vigil in the hospital, Thor steps down as Avengers chairman early, with Iron Man agreeing to take over for him. Knowing how much Jane has meant to Thor, Sif tries to be supportive. Hercules and Krista take up residence at the mansion and spend a lot of time together.
October–November 1967 – Refusing to leave Jane’s side while she lies in a coma, Thor neglects all other matters. Sif’s patience starts to wear thin, as it seems clear that Thor’s feelings for Jane are much deeper than Sif realized. Hercules and Krista visit the thunder god regularly, but he refuses to be cheered up. As the weeks pass, Jane’s condition slowly deteriorates.
December 1967 – Thor’s vigil is interrupted when Krista charges into Jane’s hospital room and informs the thunder god that Hercules is fighting for his life against a monster of some kind in Times Square. Angered, Thor launches himself out the window and flies to the scene, where he finds a hairy, hulking brute called Armak on a rampage. As they engage with each other, Thor is surprised by Armak’s strength and savagery. Their brawl takes them to the top of a skyscraper construction site, where Armak gets the upper hand and starts choking Thor to death. Luckily, Armak is distracted by a woman down below yelling through a bullhorn. She calls him “Arnold” and begs him to stop. Thor punches Armak in the jaw, sending him plummeting to his death. Satisfied that the battle is over, Thor flies directly back to the hospital, leaving Hercules to deal with the situation on the ground.
Jane finally regains consciousness and recognizes Thor. Heartsick, the thunder god vows to be ever at her side. However, she has not responded to any of the experimental treatments her doctors have tried, and Thor knows she is dying. Later, while Jane is sleeping, Thor goes to brood on a nearby rooftop and is accosted by Firelord, the former herald of Galactus whom Thor and Hercules freed from servitude two years ago. Enraged by Firelord’s apparent ingratitude, Thor responds with extreme violence, and their fight causes tremendous property damage before they finally agree to parley. They head to Avengers Mansion, where they find Iron Man, Krista, and Jarvis in the conference room. Firelord then explains that he stumbled upon a portal to the Dark Dimension, where he encountered Loki, who was ranting about his plans to conquer Asgard. The god of mischief revealed that he had absorbed Dormammu’s mystic essence when it was blasted through his mind by the Evil Eye of Avalon last year. As soon as he was able, Loki took refuge in the Dark Dimension and studied Dormammu’s mystic secrets. Iron Man then reports that he’s just heard from their friend Tom Fagan up in Rutland, Vermont, who said that Loki had vanished that morning, to be replaced by the teenaged boy who disappeared after last year’s Halloween party. Stunned by these revelations, Thor realizes that Loki must have escaped into the Dark Dimension almost immediately after being left in Rutland, leaving behind a hapless doppelgänger in his place. Firelord suggests that Loki sent him back to Earth specifically to alert Thor of his brother’s plot and offers to help save Asgard. Thor is torn, knowing that honor demands he stand with the Avengers against Loki’s threat but wanting nothing more than to race back to be with Jane.
After learning from Krista that Sif and Hercules have gone off on some kind of quest together, Thor takes a walk around the neighborhood, trying to decide which course of action is right. His mind is made up when he saves a small boy from a runaway truck and realizes that all of humanity needs his help. However, upon returning to Avengers Mansion, Thor finds the entire building surrounded by an impenetrable force field. He deduces that Loki must be responsible, intent on depriving the world of its greatest champions. Following a brief visit with Jane in the hospital, Thor flies to Washington, D.C. and attends a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. They inform him that similar force fields are imprisoning all known superheroes—clearly Loki wants to fight Thor one-on-one. Within minutes, Loki’s invasion begins, as legions of Asgardian warriors emerge through dimensional portals just like the one Firelord encountered. Thor flies out and confronts the Asgardians on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, wondering why Odin has permitted this incursion. When Loki appears, Thor is struck by the changes in his adopted brother wrought by Dormammu’s malign influence.
Loki orders dozens of his warriors to attack Thor, but the thunder god ends up generating a vortex that blows them off the bridge into the Potomac River. Loki mocks Thor’s efforts, revealing that he was responsible for Armak’s rampage. He then blasts Thor the entire length of the bridge with the eldritch flame from his burning sword. Thor is astonished by Loki’s newfound might. A ragtag group of soldiers then rolls up, led by General Sam Sawyer, who says it’s the best the Army can do on such short notice. Thor knows they will be no match for Asgardian warriors, and he is soon proved right as a terrible battle ensues. While Thor keeps Loki busy, Army demolition experts blow a hole in the bridge. Unfortunately, Loki conjures up a force field that keeps his forces from falling into the river. Unable to counter such magic, the Army retreats while Loki laughs maniacally.
As night falls over the city, Thor argues with General Sawyer over tactics and strategy. He is horrified by Sawyer’s willingness to drop a nuclear bomb on the Asgardians if nothing else will stop them. Unexpectedly, Asgard’s Grand Vizier materializes and informs Thor that Odin has embarked on a sojourn on Midgard in mortal form and, to make matters worse, has placed a spell of forgetfulness over himself. Thus, no help can be expected from the All-Father; Thor must stand or fall alone. Within the hour, the thunder god leads a commando squad into Loki’s encampment near the Lincoln Memorial, only to be captured immediately. With a mere gesture, Loki imprisons Thor and the commandos in a crystalline prison, then raves about how he will conquer the world at dawn.
When the sun rises several hours later, Thor senses that the spell making the crystal structure unbreachable is weakening. With great effort, he is able to smash through it with Mjolnir. He and the commandos then find Loki fighting with Firelord, who has somehow escaped the force field surrounding Avengers Mansion. Thor punches Loki in the face and challenges him to single combat, saying he will be branded a coward for all time if he refuses. Naturally, Loki agrees, knowing he need only keep Thor away from his enchanted hammer for sixty seconds, whereupon the thunder god will revert to his vulnerable mortal form. However, Thor has noticed that his brother’s voice and manner are becoming more familiar, meaning Dormammu’s influence is wearing off. Thus, Thor fights furiously as the seconds tick away. Finally, with mere moments to spare, Thor manages to box Loki’s ears so hard it knocks him out. Snatching up his hammer, Thor declares victory. With Loki’s defeat, his spell over the Asgardian warriors is broken, and they hail Thor as their prince. General Sawyer and his soldiers are relieved, but Thor only feels saddened that his relationship with his brother has come to this. Soon, the warriors take Loki back to Asgard to be imprisoned, and Krista decides to return home with them. The Grand Vizier, on the other hand, elects to remain on Midgard awhile and takes a room at Avengers Mansion.
With the crisis passed, Thor resumes spending most of his time with Jane in the hospital. Her condition continues to worsen, and Thor knows the end is near. Eventually, the thunder god learns from Jarvis that Steve Rogers has taken up the mantle of Captain America again and retrieved his costume and shield from the mansion’s storage vault. Thor is relieved that his teammate has finally sorted out his identity problems. A week or so later, Thor puts in an appearance at the Avengers’ sixth annual Christmas charity benefit, along with Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Moondragon. He then races back to the hospital to watch over the woman he loves.
Notes:
January–May 1967 – Black Spectre wreaks havoc in the United States in Daredevil #109–112 and Marvel Two-In-One #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes.
June 1967 – Disillusioned after the Secret Empire affair, Captain America calls it quits in Captain America #176. Thor and the Human Torch join forces against the Lava Men in Marvel Team-Up #26. All concerned remain unaware that Jinku’s visions were projected into his mind by They Who Wield Power. Thor and his fellow superheroes fight Ultron-7 while attending the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver in Avengers #127 and Fantastic Four #150. The Avengers’ battle with Kang the Conqueror then follows in Avengers #128–129 and Giant-Size Avengers #2. The timestream disturbances in the late 20th century that Kang refers to are the result of the “time bubble” (which stretches from 1995 to 2010) that Thor (among others) will investigate in Avengers #296–297 and Fantastic Four #337–341.
July 1967 – The saga of the Celestial Madonna continues through Avengers #130–137 and Giant-Size Avengers #3–4. The creature in the labyrinth is, of course, the Frankenstein Monster—or rather a simulacrum created by Kang for his Legion of the Unliving using Immortus’s time-manipulation devices. This one is based on the Monster as he was in 1898 before entering suspended animation for the second time. Wonder Man is likewise a simulacrum based on Simon Williams just before his apparent death in 1963, and the Original Human Torch simulacrum is based on the flaming android just before he deactivated himself out in the desert in 1955. Rather than sending him into the past, the crafty Immortus merely disintegrates the fake Human Torch like the rest of the Legion of the Unliving, but the Avengers are none the wiser. It is finally revealed in Avengers West Coast #50 that the Vision and the Original Human Torch are two separate entities. (Later revelations to the contrary are considered non-canonical here.) When Iron Man departs from Avengers Mansion on the splash page of Iron Man #74, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch are erroneously shown instead of Moondragon. The people of Manhattan are rendered insensate for two days by alien invaders in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3.
August 1967 – Earthquakes strike Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four remain behind the scenes.
September 1967 – The thunder god’s solo adventures finally resume in Thor #229 and following.
December 1967 – Firelord’s activities during his sojourn on Earth remain largely an Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe. Presumably, he kept to himself most of the time. Steve Rogers’ return as Captain America occurs in Captain America #183. Loki’s failed invasion of Earth brings us up to Thor #234.
Jump Back: Thor – Year Five
Next Issue: Iron Man – Year Six
Wednesday
Thursday
OMU: Daredevil -- Year Six
Over the next twelve months of his life, Daredevil only occasionally runs into superpowered menaces, spending most of his time in costume making life difficult for less glamorous criminals, mobsters, and street thugs. Much of his time is taken up with Matt Murdock’s duties in the office of the Manhattan district attorney. His love affair with the Black Widow continues to limp along, although they spend the year living on opposite coasts. This may, in fact, be one of the loneliest periods of Matt’s life, as he is too often isolated from the few people close to him.
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
Here comes… The True History of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!
January 1967 – On New Year’s Day, the subversive organization Black Spectre engineers a race riot at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Police in riot gear storm the demonstrators and beat them with clubs, causing outrage across the nation and fueling further political polarization. During the fracas, Black Spectre issues a statement claiming credit for the crisis. Afterwards, Daredevil investigates but is unable to find any clues that might lead him to his quarry. In the days that follow, Matt Murdock is officially reinstated as Assistant District Attorney and manages the office while the D.A., Franklin P. “Foggy” Nelson, remains hospitalized in the intensive-care ward with injuries sustained in an assassination attempt. Matt tries to keep his old friend informed of the office’s activities, though Foggy’s girlfriend, Debbie Harris, is very protective of him. Matt tries to avoid Foggy’s younger sister, Candace Nelson, whose flirtatiousness makes him uncomfortable. He continues staying at the New York Hilton Hotel, not sure how long he’ll remain in the city due to his unresolved romantic entanglement with the California-based Black Widow. At night, Daredevil also searches the city for his old foe, the Beetle, while disrupting a variety of street-level criminal activity. Matt soon realizes how glad he is to be back in his hometown, having felt out of his element during his long sojourn in San Francisco.
February 1967 – Several weeks later, Black Spectre installs a large wreathed swastika on top of the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital, soon issuing a statement claiming credit for the prank. The National Park Service has the offensive symbol removed as quickly as possible. Matt is frustrated that he’s made no real progress in his investigation into Black Spectre’s activities, either through the D.A.’s office or in his role as a superhero. To Matt’s relief, Foggy is finally moved out of intensive care, though he experiences complications that necessitate him remaining hospitalized. Between his parents, sister, girlfriend, and colleagues, Foggy has a strong support network and is able to keep his spirits up.
March 1967 – Early in the month, Black Spectre drapes Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in black shrouds, as if to signify a nation in mourning. Again, the National Park Service soon has the drapery removed from the building. His investigation stalled, Matt wonders what all these relatively harmless pranks are leading up to. Unable to find any trace of the Beetle, Daredevil begins to wonder if the villain has been killed by Black Spectre agents.
April 1967 – Matt is furious when Black Spectre uses some kind of laser device to carve Adolf Hitler’s face onto Mount Rushmore in South Dakota overnight. Fortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. assists the National Park Service with restoring the monument. Slowly regaining his strength, Foggy is eager to spend more time attending to his duties as district attorney, though Matt is wary of overburdening him.
May 1967 – Daredevil finally catches a break when he finds Black Spectre agents dumping large amounts of counterfeit cash—made with the government printing plates they stole last Christmas Eve—off a rooftop on Wall Street, driving thousands of people to riot in the street, nearly mad with greed as they try to grab as many of the fluttering bills as they can. To his surprise, Daredevil realizes that all of the Black Spectre agents at the scene are women, their gender hidden by their bulky uniforms and helmets but revealed by his hypersenses. They try to recruit the hero to their cause, but he ignores their outlandish rhetoric. Suddenly, the Beetle joins the fight, determined to get revenge on Black Spectre for ruining his Christmas Eve heist. Realizing they’re overmatched, the terrorists flee into the frenzied crowd and escape. The Beetle then catches Daredevil off guard and throws him into a wall, knocking him out. When he comes to, Daredevil is confused to find San Francisco Police Commissioner Robert “Ironguts” O’Hara looming over him. O’Hara explains that he has just returned to the United States from Africa, where he went to bury his murdered brother last fall, and wants to lend a hand against Black Spectre. Daredevil suggests he go meet with District Attorney Nelson at the hospital, then makes sure to beat O’Hara there and quickly change back into Matt Murdock. When O’Hara arrives, Foggy, confined to a wheelchair but able to hang out in the hospital’s solarium, shows him photo enlargements he’s had made of the scenes of Black Spectre’s recent outrages, revealing that a dirigible was present each time. They wonder why a terrorist organization would use such an unlikely mode of transport. Unexpectedly, the Commissioner’s niece, Dr. Shanna O’Hara, enters the room with two pet leopards, called Ina and Biri, and announces that the leader of Black Spectre is the same man who murdered her father last year in Africa. Gerald O’Hara, she explains, made a fortune in the African diamond trade before being kidnapped a little over a year ago by a mutant terrorist known as the Mandrill, who commanded his own private army. Shanna spent several months trying to find him, only to learn last November that her father’s body had turned up in Cape Town, South Africa. She was shocked to discover that her father’s will bequeathed all the assets of the diamond business to someone named “Hensley Fargus,” which she suspects is an alias used by the Mandrill. Though she has no proof yet, Shanna is convinced that her father’s fortune is being used to finance Black Spectre. Matt’s hypersenses tell him that Shanna is not telling all she knows, though he is intrigued by her unusually high levels of physical fitness and self-confidence. Foggy thanks her for the information and promises to follow up on it.
The next evening, Daredevil is swinging through the city on his billy-club cable when an explosion atop a skyscraper he’s passing sends chunks of masonry raining down on the street below. Twisting to avoid the debris, Daredevil loses his grip on his billy club and falls, though he manages to save himself by grabbing onto a construction crane. Learning from a police officer that the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building headquarters was the source of the explosion, Daredevil determines to give the superhero team a piece of his mind. In the lobby, he runs into the Thing, who has come down to see if anyone was hurt by the falling rubble. Inviting Daredevil upstairs, the Thing explains that the blast was caused by an alien man named Wundarr, who, despite his dangerous superhuman powers, has the intellect of a toddler. In the tower, Daredevil meets Wundarr and retrieves his billy club with some help from Mister Fantastic. He is intrigued by the high-tech costume Mister Fantastic has created to prevent Wundarr from being a “walking bomb” any longer and wonders why the cantankerous Thing, of all people, seems to have been made Wundarr’s primary caregiver. Daredevil then goes to meet Shanna O’Hara at her hotel room and hears again her tale of the Mandrill, still convinced that she’s withholding some vital information.
Frustrated, Daredevil continues on to Greenwich Village, where he changes back into Matt Murdock. Matt has somewhat reluctantly agreed to accompany Candace Nelson, a graduate student at Empire State University, to a patriotic avant-garde stage play called America Shall Endure. Along with the rest of the audience, Matt and Candace are horrified when an actor dressed as Captain America savagely beats another actor playing a Civil War-era slave, only to be shot dead by a third actor portraying Adolf Hitler. That actor then shoots himself in the head, blowing his brains all over the stage, before Matt can even decide what to do. The audience panics and stampedes out of the theater, so Matt takes advantage of the chaos and allows himself to be separated from Candace. He then changes into Daredevil and pursues a Black Spectre agent out the stage door into an alley behind the theater, realizing the terrorist must have somehow hypnotized the actors to cause the bloodbath. Unfortunately, he is ambushed by Natasha Romanoff, who helps the terrorist escape in the organization’s dirigible. Daredevil is bewildered, wondering if the Black Widow could possibly be so angry at him for leaving her last Christmas Eve that she would join a group like Black Spectre. Intent on finding out, he races back to the Baxter Building and tries to commandeer the Fantasti-Car. He is stopped by the Thing, but after learning of the dire situation, the Thing agrees to join him in his pursuit of the dirigible. When the two heroes catch up to the villains’ airship, though, they discover it is actually a jet aircraft disguised as a dirigible. The Thing smashes his way through the airship’s electrified hull and starts fighting with Natasha, numerous Black Spectre agents, and a mutant woman calling herself Nekra, Priestess of Darkness. By the time Daredevil drops into the vessel as well, the Thing has battled his way into another room. Nekra and the Black Widow team up against Daredevil and quickly knock him out. Regaining consciousness, Daredevil finds himself and the dazed Thing plunging toward the ground in the Fantasti-Car. He manages to get the vehicle’s engines restarted and pull it out of its nose-dive, giving the Thing the chance to come to and bring it to a safe landing on the New Jersey Palisades. On the way back to Manhattan, the Thing reveals that he saw the face of Black Spectre’s leader, and it was not recognizably human—lending credence to Shanna’s assertion that the organization is led by the Mandrill. Frustrated that they lost the fight, the Thing is ready to go back for round two, but Daredevil insists that he’s more effective when he works alone.
Around midnight, Daredevil manages to capture two Black Spectre agents whom he finds running through a back alley. His hypersenses confirm that they, like all the others, are women. He calls the police and has the terrorists taken in for questioning. While the pair is being interrogated, Daredevil phones Commissioner O’Hara at his hotel and asks him and Shanna to come down to the station. The frustrated cops then inform Daredevil that the suspects have refused to say a word since being brought in. Daredevil is surprised when one cop mentions that both women have strange tattoos on their faces, but he tries to cover up the fact that he was unaware of something a sighted person would find glaringly obvious. No sooner have the O’Haras entered the station (with the two leopards) than the interrogation room is blown apart by a tremendous explosion. The charred remains of the two terrorists are found in the rubble, and it is determined that they committed suicide rather than betray their compatriots. Exhausted, Daredevil heads back to his hotel to get some sleep. However, he is surprised to find the Mandrill there, waiting for him along with another of his female agents. Chortling, the Mandrill reveals that the Black Widow has informed the terrorists of Daredevil’s secret identity. The hero is shocked by this betrayal, but the Mandrill explains that both he and Nekra are mutants, their parents having been exposed to radiation while working on the Manhattan Project. Ostracized for the early manifestations of their mutations, the pair met as young runaways and, upon coming into their full powers as teenagers, decided to strike back at the society that had rejected them for being different. Over time, the Mandrill realized that, in addition to his monkey-like appearance, he had the power to mentally dominate women and bend them to his will—including Nekra. Daredevil realizes with some relief that this is how they managed to get Natasha to join their organization and reveal his secrets. Having heard enough, Daredevil attacks his foe, and their battle carries them down to the busy sidewalk on W. 53rd St. When police arrive on the scene, the Mandrill decides to retreat. Daredevil is unable to pursue him as the jostling crowd moves in, overwhelming his hypersenses.
Daredevil then pays a visit to Shanna, rousting her and her leopards out of bed. She summons her uncle from his adjoining room, whereupon Daredevil confirms her suspicion that the Mandrill is the leader of Black Spectre and reveals what he’s learned about the villains’ mutant powers. Thoroughly exhausted, he suggests they meet with Foggy at the hospital in the morning to decide what to do next. He then swings off on his billy-club cable, only to be immediately ambushed by an armored Japanese swordsman calling himself the Silver Samurai. Daredevil is shocked as his foe’s sword effortlessly cuts through stone walls and iron lampposts. He realizes that, due to his fatigue, it’s all he can do to avoid getting killed. Fortunately, Ina and Biri leap into the fray, with Shanna close behind. Working together, they are able to force the Silver Samurai to retreat, and Daredevil is very impressed with Shanna’s athletic prowess. She is eager to pursue the villain, but Daredevil insists on getting some sleep first.
Thus, several hours later, Daredevil meets up with the O’Haras and Foggy in the hospital solarium, where Shanna admits to withholding information because she wanted to deal with the Mandrill herself. However, she now realizes that his mutant power to control women makes that impossible. Shanna explains that she has battled Nekra before—in fact, Nekra murdered her boyfriend—and during the months she was searching for the villains in hopes of rescuing her father, she was working closely with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and they found evidence that the Silver Samurai was working for the Mandrill. As if on cue, the Silver Samurai then crashes through the solarium windows, accompanied by several Black Spectre agents. They kidnap Shanna after stunning her leopards, and though Daredevil makes a valiant attempt to stop them, he gets knocked out by Nekra. After regaining consciousness, he changes into Matt Murdock and returns to the solarium. There, Candace informs him that Foggy is back in his private room and Commissioner O’Hara is being treated for minor injuries. Needing some time to recover from the battle himself, Matt invites Candace to the hospital coffee shop and learns that she has gotten herself into some kind of trouble at school, though she refuses to discuss it.
At dusk, Daredevil finds Black Spectre’s phony dirigible hovering over the Empire State Building, where the Silver Samurai and several female agents are sabotaging the 200-foot TV transmission tower on the roof. Daredevil confronts them but quickly realizes he is badly outnumbered. He decides to storm the aircraft instead and confront the Mandrill directly. While climbing up the ship’s rope ladder, he senses the transmission tower crashing to the street below, killing several people on impact. Nekra climbs down the ladder to deal with him, but Daredevil evades her using his gymnastic skills. He climbs into the ship, only to be immediately attacked by the Mandrill and kept busy until Nekra can climb back up and knock him out again with a karate chop. Daredevil comes to later and finds himself being held prisoner alongside the unconscious Shanna somewhere within the airship. He overhears the Mandrill telling Nekra that he plans to dissect Daredevil’s brain to find out how his radar sense works. The villain is also intent on discovering why Shanna is immune to his influence, a revelation Daredevil finds interesting. When the pair has left the area, Daredevil pleads with the Black Widow to set him free, but she refuses. When Shanna comes to, she suggests that an emotional shock might overcome the Mandrill’s influence, so Daredevil reminds Natasha of their contentious parting last Christmas Eve. The gambit succeeds and Natasha releases Daredevil and Shanna, leading them to where all the Black Spectre jetpacks are stored. After Natasha has rigged the jetpacks’ fuel source to explode, she, Daredevil, and Shanna fly out of the ship, discovering that it is now hovering above the White House in Washington, D.C. Daredevil senses a large simian-shaped idol on the lawn with a blazing cauldron in its lap. Numerous Black Spectre agents have shed their bulky uniforms and are dancing around the idol. A contingent of soldiers have them surrounded but aren’t taking any action for some reason.
The three heroes crash into the Oval Office, where they find the Mandrill seated at the President’s desk. Daredevil attacks him immediately while the Black Widow takes on Nekra and Shanna deals with some of their agents. The battle soon leads the two men up to the roof, where the Mandrill manages to gain the upper hand. Luckily, he is distracted when the phony dirigible blows up and crashes to the ground, enabling Daredevil to break the villain’s grip and kick him off the roof. Convinced that the Mandrill must have broken his neck when he landed, Daredevil races back to the Oval Office. He is relieved to find that the Black Widow has already defeated Nekra, who was likewise distracted by the exploding airship. Shanna is furious when no trace of the Mandrill’s body can be found, and she castigates Daredevil for not verifying that he was dead, thus allowing her father’s killer to escape. The Black Widow tries to comfort Shanna, and Daredevil feels terrible. The soldiers finally move in and take the remaining Black Spectre agents into custody. Due to her dangerous mutant powers, Nekra is remanded into the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil is further dispirited when the Army general overseeing the mopping-up operation suggests that the proper response to the incident is further mistrust and oppression of those who are different—the very attitude that drove the Mandrill and Nekra to a life of crime in the first place.
A few days later, Foggy is finally released from the hospital, although Debbie continues to fuss over him. Matt then takes Natasha, Shanna, and Commissioner O’Hara to the airport for their flight back to California. At the gate, Matt suggests he may move back to San Francisco eventually, after he helps Foggy get the district attorney’s office back on track following his extended hospitalization. After the O’Haras have boarded the plane, Matt and Natasha bid each other an awkward farewell, as neither can quite find the words to express their feelings. Finally, Natasha just kisses Matt, then turns and boards the plane without another word. He is left reeling with conflicting emotions.
June 1967 – Following the kidnapping of Gail Callan, the teenaged daughter of a wealthy industrialist, the kidnappers demand that Assistant District Attorney Matt Murdock deliver the ransom, since he is blind and won’t be able to identify them. However, Matt’s hypersenses soon reveal the villains to be his old foes, the animal-themed Unholy Three. After handing the ransom over to Cat-Man, Matt changes into Daredevil and follows him, hoping he’ll lead him to where Ape-Man and Bird-Man are holding Gail. Unfortunately, Spider-Man interferes, mistaking Cat-Man for a burglar. Thus, Daredevil picks a fight with the web-slinger, to prevent him from apprehending the crook. Once Cat-Man has fled the scene, Daredevil stops the fight and explains the situation. Spider-Man agrees to team up with Daredevil to rescue Gail, whereupon they track Cat-Man to Steeplechase Park, a closed-down section of the Coney Island amusement complex. While Daredevil keeps the Unholy Three busy, Spider-Man sneaks Gail out and carries her to safety. The heroes quickly defeat Bird-Man and Cat-Man, but Ape-Man manages to grab Gail again and take her to the top of a roller coaster. Spider-Man sends the roller coaster cars crashing into Ape-Man, causing him to drop the terrified Gail into Daredevil’s arms. After webbing up the Unholy Three and summoning the police, Spider-Man departs. Daredevil makes sure that both Gail and the ransom are safely returned to her father.
When Candace Nelson is kidnapped by the Gladiator, Matt and Foggy learn that she was grabbed while being arrested by the FBI; the Gladiator nearly killed the two FBI agents and stole a set of papers that were the subject of the federal investigation. Matt remembers Candace mentioning some trouble at school, so he heads over to Empire State University and questions her mentor, journalism professor Charles Laing, who reveals that Candace was working on an exposé about the school’s involvement in questionable military research during the 1950s. She had discovered files in the university archives relating to a top-secret project dubbed Operation: Sulfur, led by a member of the chemistry faculty named Theodore Sallis. Dr. Sallis was apparently trying to develop a serum that would alter human biochemistry to allow people to survive even the most toxic industrial pollution—in effect by mutating them into pollution-breathing monsters. Sallis eventually turned against the project and had it shut down. Matt is frustrated to learn that Sallis disappeared a couple years ago while working on a new project in the Florida Everglades, but he reasons that the Gladiator may try to track down Sallis as well, if he’s interested in the Operation: Sulfur research. Thus, Matt decides to head down to Florida at once, after checking in with Foggy.
Arriving in Citrusville, Florida—where Sallis was last seen—a few hours later, Matt meets radio disc jockey Richard Rory, who has done some reporting on Sallis’s disappearance. Rory reveals that Sallis’s abandoned laboratory out in the swamp was the site of a mysterious triple-murder just two months ago, but then he starts going on about the local swamp monster, known as the “Man-Thing,” claiming to have seen the creature himself. Incredulous, Matt has Rory drive him out to the lab, which turns out to be little more than a wooden shack. There, Matt’s hypersenses immediately detect both the Gladiator and Candace within the dilapidated structure. Unfortunately, the Gladiator comes charging out and attacks them, knocking Rory unconscious. Matt is able to dash into the trees and change into Daredevil, but the fight does not go well—his leg is injured and he is knocked out when his foe’s wrist-mounted buzzsaws send a heavy branch crashing down on him. Coming to several minutes later, Daredevil is shocked to find the Man-Thing, a hulking creature made of muck and slime, struggling with the Gladiator. Where the monster is touching his bare flesh, the Gladiator’s skin is burning, producing a horrible smell. Nearby stands a wraith-like figure whom the Gladiator calls Death-Stalker—mostly just a blur to Daredevil’s radar sense, with no discernable heartbeat. When Death-Stalker causes the Man-Thing to collapse to the ground with a mere touch of his hand, Daredevil pounces on the phantom and tries to punch him in the face. To his shock, Daredevil discovers there is nothing under his foe’s hat but a void of numbing cold. Laughing, Death-Stalker easily avoids Daredevil’s clumsy follow-up attacks and renders the hero unconscious just by laying a hand on his shoulder.
Daredevil is relieved to regain consciousness sometime later, for he felt as if he were dying. However, he finds himself and Rory tied to chairs inside Sallis’s shack, which is burning down. There is no sign of Death-Stalker or Candace, so Daredevil quickly frees himself and carries the still-unconscious Rory out of the collapsing building. He then senses the Man-Thing lurking nearby, with the Gladiator—also knocked out cold—in its arms. Daredevil approaches cautiously, but the monster makes no move against him. It merely drops the Gladiator to the ground and shambles back into the swamp. Mystified, Daredevil loads Rory and the Gladiator into the disc jockey’s Volkswagen bus and drives them to the Citrusville hospital, where he changes back into Matt Murdock and has his leg treated. Gladiator’s burns are likewise treated before he is taken into custody by the sheriff. Rory finally comes to and, after being treated for a concussion and minor smoke inhalation, is released. Confused by the day’s events, Rory wishes Matt luck in tracking down the kidnapped girl. Matt finds a payphone and calls Foggy, but when his old friend mentions Daredevil being in Florida, Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must now be holding both Nelson siblings prisoner. Worried, Matt hurries back to the Miami airport and catches the next flight to New York. There, Daredevil finds Foggy and Candace tied up in Foggy’s apartment and manages to drive Death-Stalker off with the help of a passing police officer.
After bringing Foggy up to date on the strange events in Florida, Matt convinces him to stash Candace in a hotel room rather than turning her over to the FBI, arguing that her life will be in danger as long as Death-Stalker knows where she is, given the villain’s ghost-like abilities. Foggy relents and goes to confer with the federal authorities, leaving Candace with Matt at his hotel. Candace again flirts with Matt, but when he gets irritated, she explains that she’s just trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the situation. As they discuss the case, Candace reveals that the Operation: Sulfur papers show that Sallis expected his test subjects to be immune to germ warfare as well as pollution, whereupon Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must be trying to sell the research on the black market. Determined not to let that happen, Matt makes up an excuse to step out, then changes into Daredevil and sets off in search of his foe. After a few hours, he finds him inside a chemical factory in Queens belonging to Osborn Laboratories, Inc. Though the facility has been shut down since Norman Osborn’s death last year, Daredevil detects activity within. Sure enough, the hero locates Death-Stalker and a gun-toting chemist on a catwalk above a huge vat of hydrochloric acid. After a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Daredevil causes Death-Stalker to plunge into the vat of acid, losing his billy club in the process. He then disarms the villain’s accomplice and tosses his pistol into the acid as well, along with the file of Sallis’s research, knowingly destroying the evidence in the government’s case against Candace. He justifies his action by telling himself that the papers were too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands. Realizing that he didn’t actually hear Death-Stalker being dissolved by the acid, Daredevil wonders if his foe managed to escape.
Returning to his hotel at dawn, Matt informs Foggy and Candace that Death-Stalker died fighting Daredevil and the Sallis papers were destroyed in the melee. To his surprise, Candace is upset by the news, since she won’t be able to do her exposé now. Foggy is relieved, however, and he and Matt spend the rest of the day in the office of the federal prosecutor arranging for the charges against Candace to be dropped. Then, following a worrisome phone call from Natasha, Matt catches a red-eye flight out to San Francisco. As Daredevil, he heads back to the north shore mansion they once shared, only to discover that the owner has evicted Natasha and Ivan for failing to pay the rent. While searching the city for the Russian expatriates, Daredevil comes across two gun-toting thugs menacing innocent bystanders and tackles them. During the ensuing brawl, the Black Widow shows up and lends a hand. With the gunmen subdued, Daredevil and the Black Widow embrace and kiss with surprising passion as the crowd around them cheers and applauds. Unfortunately, one of the thugs manages to slip away while the heroes are thus distracted. After a little while, they give up looking for him and start discussing Natasha’s financial woes. She explains that she has depleted her savings, having been unable to find gainful employment due to her notoriety, and so for the past week she and Ivan have been living out of her Rolls-Royce. Shocked, Daredevil insists that he would have helped her out if she’d let him know, but she insists that she’s been too proud to ask for his help until now. Suddenly, they are attacked by the Owl, who is backed up by a gang of armed henchmen in a helicopter. As it turns out, the two thugs whom the heroes beat up earlier were in the Owl’s employ, working as part of a protection racket he’s been running in the city. The Owl manages to poison Daredevil, and before losing consciousness, he senses the Black Widow being gunned down by the men in the helicopter.
When he regains consciousness sometime later, Daredevil finds himself strapped to a metal table in the Owl’s secret lair. His thoughts are muddled, and he overhears the villain and his henchmen discussing some kind of mind-probe they have subjected him to, using a device that has since been damaged by the Black Widow. Daredevil is relieved to know that Natasha is still alive. Then, the Black Widow enters, carrying Shanna O’Hara in her arms—apparently having made a deal with the Owl to kidnap her in exchange for Daredevil’s freedom. However, Daredevil can tell that Shanna is merely feigning unconsciousness. Unsurprisingly, the Owl attempts to double-cross the Black Widow, at which point Shanna springs into action, using karate against the henchmen and freeing Daredevil from his bonds. The Owl activates jets of tear gas concealed in the floor, but Daredevil nevertheless manages to punch the villain into his mind-probe machine, completely demolishing it. The Owl then tries to escape, but with the help of a couple of death-defying leaps, Daredevil captures him. Afterwards, Daredevil is pleased when Ivan Petrovich turns up with Lt. Paul Carson of the San Francisco Police Department. He and Carson take some time to get caught up while the Owl and his henchmen are taken into custody. Over the next few days, Matt and Natasha spend some quality time together while Ivan uses his mechanical engineering skills to build Daredevil a sophisticated new billy club. Finally, Daredevil and the Black Widow say goodbye to each other atop the Golden Gate Bridge. He asks her again to come back to New York with him, but she refuses, feeling it’s important that she maintain her independence despite being in love with him. For both of them, it’s a painful parting.
July 1967 – Daredevil continues his crimefighting crusade in New York City, though he finds himself second-guessing his decision to leave San Francisco and Natasha. He foils a plot by the Circus of Crime to rob their audience using a colony of bats controlled by their newest member, a man called Blackwing. The Ringmaster, Princess Python, Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno, and the Human Cannonball are among those taken into custody, though Blackwing manages to escape. Matt and Foggy are frustrated when Princess Python immediately breaks out of prison.
On a rooftop one evening, Daredevil is recruited for a mission to save the world by Nighthawk, whom he remembers as a fraudulent superhero he fought with a couple years ago. Nighthawk insists that he is now a bona fide hero and works with a team called the Defenders, which has so far kept its existence a secret. Though Daredevil is dubious, his hypersenses tell him that Nighthawk is not lying, therefore he agrees to help. Immediately, they are both teleported onto a large platform drifting in a void, where the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and a woman who calls herself the Valkyrie are waiting for them. An alien known as the Grandmaster then explains that the Defenders are to serve as his pawns in a game against a mystery opponent, with the fate of the earth hanging in the balance—if they win, the world will be left alone; if they lose, the human race will be enslaved; and if they refuse to cooperate, the planet will be destroyed. Daredevil is intrigued when the Grandmaster mentions that he gave Nighthawk his powers when forming a team called the Squadron Sinister to battle the Avengers in a similar game some years ago. While the Grandmaster is making his preparations, Nighthawk describes the alien as a “galactic gambling addict.” Soon, Daredevil and the Sub-Mariner are teleported to a highly volcanic world that stinks of sulfur, where they are supposed to fight two weird aliens to the death. The chaotic environment wreaks havoc with Daredevil’s hypersenses, and almost immediately he is thrown into a magma geyser and incinerated.
A moment later, however, Daredevil finds himself resurrected on a small space station, where he is reunited with the Defenders. The Grandmaster declares himself the victor in the contest but decides to renege on his pledge, believing Earth can provide him with generations of gladiators for his amusement. Outraged, the Defenders attack him, only to be easily brushed aside. Daredevil decides to try a different tack and, remembering Nighthawk’s words, goads the Grandmaster into wagering Earth’s freedom on a simple coin toss. Thus, Daredevil pries a metal disk off a bank of machinery and scratches an X on one side. As he flips it into the air, though, he uses his hypersenses to ensure that he wins the toss. The Grandmaster graciously accepts defeat and teleports the heroes back to New York City. Doctor Strange expresses his gratitude to Daredevil, though he has some reservations about risking the fate of the human race on the toss of a coin. Chuckling to himself, Daredevil assures the Defenders that the outcome was never in doubt.
Later, Matt is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in New York City has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the globe, but then the Fantastic Four announce that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
August 1967 – Matt is elated to receive a somewhat cryptic telegram from Natasha informing him that she’s planning to return to New York before the end of the year. She just needs a few months, she says, to straighten out her finances and settle her debts in San Francisco. Later, at the district attorney’s office, Matt learns that Candace is heading to Washington, D.C. for the next few months, to serve as the star witness in a congressional investigation into Operation: Sulfur. Candace is clearly excited to get her chance to expose the horrific research project, hoping to prevent other such abuses of science. Afterwards, Matt returns to his old neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen, to meet with “Pop” Fenton, his dad’s old boxing trainer, at Fogwell’s Gym. Fenton explains that he got a grant to convert the gym into a non-profit afterschool sports center for the neighborhood teens. He and his former protege, Kid Gawaine, who has given up boxing to study for the Catholic priesthood, then tell Matt about a promising bantamweight boxer named Juan Aponte, who has become the subject of unethical augmentation experiments conducted by a former city coroner, Dr. Jakkelburr. The experiments are apparently based on research Jakkelburr carried out on the corpse of the Crusher, a mutated Cuban strongman who died fighting Iron Man three years ago. They are concerned because the treatments seem to be altering Aponte’s personality and making him dangerous. Matt offers them some legal advice, but then Aponte and Jakkelburr turn up, accompanied by some hired thugs, intent on preventing Fenton and Gawaine from interfering with Aponte’s first heavyweight bout that night. In the ensuing scuffle, Matt allows himself to be shoved into the locker room, where he changes into Daredevil. The hero then confronts Aponte, who has transformed into a 12-foot giant with superhuman strength. Their battle wrecks the old building, and Aponte is mortally wounded when he impulsively saves Fenton and Gawaine from a collapsing wall. Reverting to his normal form, the dying Aponte apologizes for his rampage, saying he couldn’t control himself after his transformation. Sympathetic, Daredevil captures Jakkelburr and his thugs and turns them over to the police.
When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Daredevil heads out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Though the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—Daredevil focuses his efforts on the southern zone, which is closer to the district attorney’s offices. There, he senses Iron Man, Hawkeye, and the Fantastic Four have also joined in the rescue efforts.
Matt is curious when the American Museum of Natural History announces a gala opening of their new exhibit—the Man-Thing. The day after the opening, though, Matt learns that the creature became so agitated that it broke out of its enclosure and took off down the street. The Man-Thing made it as far as Columbus Circle, where it collapsed into the fountain. The museum then made arrangements to have the monster shipped back to the Florida Everglades, with help from Stark International. Remembering his recent encounter with the Man-Thing, Matt thinks it’s for the best that it be left alone in its natural habitat.
September 1967 – Matt pays a visit to the Waldorf Astoria hotel to give an official warning to a trio of San Francisco-based martial arts experts—Lin Sun, Abe Brown, and Bob Diamond—who have been linked to recent acts of large-scale destruction on the west coast. However, as he is approaching their suite, the three men come charging out and race to the elevator. Matt senses about half-a-dozen unconscious ninja assassins on the floor of their hotel room and is impressed by the trio’s fighting prowess. A few hours later, a section of the Queensboro Bridge is bombed and collapses, though there’s no evidence tying Sun, Brown, and Diamond to the disaster.
October–November 1967 – Daredevil continues to plague New York City’s criminal underworld, focusing mainly on street crime. Confident that he won’t be returning to San Francisco, Matt finally moves out of the New York Hilton Hotel and into a brownstone in the Lennox Hill neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His new place is near the Queensboro Bridge, which is undergoing reconstruction, and is not too far from Avengers Mansion, where, he learns, Moondragon has been staying. Though tempted, Matt decides not to look her up, anticipating Natasha’s arrival.
December 1967 – For about 18 hours, Daredevil finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. He then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
On New Year’s Eve, Matt goes to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Natasha and Ivan. Their reunion is disrupted by a gang of machine gun-toting terrorist hijackers, but Daredevil and the Black Widow quickly beat them senseless in the baggage claim area. Leaving Ivan to deal with the luggage, the two costumed lovers head out into the falling snow to discuss their relationship. Though reluctant at first, Natasha finally opens up and admits that she doesn’t like feeling like Daredevil’s sidekick when they’re out fighting crime together. He is disturbed by the thought that Natasha believes their love affair is eroding her sense of fierce independence and decides to change the subject. Entering his new apartment, Daredevil pulls out his tuxedo and tells Natasha to change into something sexy for a swanky New Year’s Eve party. When Ivan finally arrives, he grumbles about changing into a tuxedo as well but complies when Natasha insists. Matt is nervous, knowing that the party is being hosted by Foggy, against whom Natasha still holds a grudge for prosecuting her on a false murder charge. When they arrive at Foggy’s apartment and are greeted by his fiancée, Debbie Harris, Natasha gets angry and nearly storms out before Matt stops her. He insists that Foggy deeply regrets what happened and was being manipulated by the villain Mister Kline—and very nearly resigned as D.A. as a result. Ivan urges Natasha to let bygones be bygones, and she finally agrees to remain at the party for Matt’s sake. Noticing that Natasha is standing beneath some mistletoe, Foggy approaches her sheepishly and offers his apologies. Before Natasha can respond, a horde of HYDRA agents crashes through the windows.
The HYDRA agents spray a sedative gas around the apartment, knocking out most of the guests, including Ivan and Debbie. Matt bolts into a bedroom and changes into Daredevil, his hypersenses revealing that the leader of the HYDRA commando squad is a Hispanic man calling himself the Jaguar and they are there to kidnap Foggy. Daredevil swings back into the apartment through another window and attacks the Jaguar, ducking under his slashing claws to turn out the lights. Unfortunately, the Jaguar is able to see in the dark, and their furious battle quickly trashes Foggy’s apartment. Daredevil finally gains the upper hand, only to be distracted by the arrival of Nick Fury, along with over a dozen of his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The Jaguar smashes down the front door and flees, but Fury insists that his agents will apprehend him. However, Contessa Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine soon enters and reports that the Jaguar slipped through their security perimeter, as they were not prepared for his superhuman speed. Daredevil is irate that Fury’s agents let their foe get away. Foggy and Debbie are confused as to why they would be targeted by HYDRA, so Fury explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. is considering Foggy for its new board of directors. The agency is being reorganized, he reveals, and will no longer be under the direct command of the President of the United States. Several candidates for the new board of directors are being considered, chosen from various sectors of public service. Foggy is honored but says he’ll need to think it over. Debbie is worried about HYDRA attacking them again, but Fury insists S.H.I.E.L.D. can protect them. When Ivan wonders aloud where Matt has gotten to, Daredevil takes the hint and swings off, wishing Foggy good luck. He then sneaks back in through the bedroom window, changes out of his costume, and rejoins the others, claiming to have been knocked out during the fight. Fury and his agents take Foggy to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to debrief him for a few hours, leaving a small detachment to guard Debbie. Matt, Natasha, and Ivan say goodnight and head back to Matt’s townhouse. After dropping off the two lovers, Ivan drives back to keep an eye on Foggy’s apartment building. Happy to be reunited at last, Matt and Natasha ring in the new year together.
Notes:
January–May 1967 – Daredevil’s adventures continue in Daredevil #109 and following. Black Spectre’s activities cover significantly more time than is apparent in the story as written. Daredevil teams up with the Thing, learns of Shanna O’Hara’s recent ordeal, attends the ill-fated stage play, encounters the Black Widow, and meets Nekra in Marvel Two-in-One #3. Presumably, the hypnotized actors were not performing America Shall Endure as written but were forced into a catastrophic sort of improv. Shanna’s tale recounts the events of her short-lived series Shanna the She-Devil, part of Marvel’s half-hearted attempt to expand their female readership. Her immunity to the Mandrill’s influence is probably due to the inhabiting spirit known as the Queen of the Pride that she inherited from her mother (as revealed in Marvel Fanfare #59). In addition to destroying the TV transmission tower atop the Empire State Building, Black Spectre agents also sabotage similar media infrastructure across the country, disrupting television broadcasts nationwide, as well as cutting long-distance telephone lines and jamming shortwave radio frequencies. Furthermore, the Mandrill tells the U.S. military, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four that he has an atomic bomb ready to destroy New York City should they interfere with his plans to overthrow the federal government—a claim eventually revealed to be a hoax. The Mandrill does indeed escape at the end and flees with some of his thralls to South America. The disposition of the unconscious Nekra is revealed in the flashback in Spider-Woman #16.
June 1967 – Daredevil and Spider-Man join forces against the Unholy Three in Marvel Team-Up #25. The triple-homicide in Ted Sallis’s swamp shack takes place in the Man-Thing text story in Monsters Unleashed #8–9. Daredevil is unaware that he battled Death-Stalker three years ago, when the villain was known as the Exterminator, as chronicled in Daredevil #39–41. The explosion that seemingly killed the Exterminator actually left him partially phased into an interdimensional limbo, where he mutated into the Death-Stalker.
July 1967 – Princess Python’s jailbreak is revealed in Captain America #180. Daredevil teams up with the Defenders for the contest between the Grandmaster and Doctor Doom’s Prime Mover robot in Giant-Size Defenders #3, where he and the Sub-Mariner are handily defeated by Dumog the Fomalhauti and Teju the Reptoid. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for 48 hours by alien invaders in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3, in which Matt Murdock remains behind the scenes.
August 1967 – Interestingly, it’s entirely possible that Dr. Jakkelburr’s research on the Crusher formed the basis for Karl Malus’s later augmentation work for Power Broker, Inc. Earthquakes strike Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Man-Thing makes his New York City debut in Giant-Size Man-Thing #2. Matt again remains behind the scenes.
September 1967 – Matt’s brief encounter with the Sons of the Tiger occurs in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8.
December 1967 – Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in Thor #233. Nick Fury’s attempt to recruit Foggy Nelson brings us up to Daredevil #121. The reorganization of S.H.I.E.L.D. is likely in response to last year’s Secret Empire plot, which involved their leader becoming President of the United States, as detailed in OMU: POTUS – Part Three.
Jump Back: Daredevil – Year Five
Next Issue: Thor – Year Six
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
Here comes… The True History of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!
January 1967 – On New Year’s Day, the subversive organization Black Spectre engineers a race riot at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Police in riot gear storm the demonstrators and beat them with clubs, causing outrage across the nation and fueling further political polarization. During the fracas, Black Spectre issues a statement claiming credit for the crisis. Afterwards, Daredevil investigates but is unable to find any clues that might lead him to his quarry. In the days that follow, Matt Murdock is officially reinstated as Assistant District Attorney and manages the office while the D.A., Franklin P. “Foggy” Nelson, remains hospitalized in the intensive-care ward with injuries sustained in an assassination attempt. Matt tries to keep his old friend informed of the office’s activities, though Foggy’s girlfriend, Debbie Harris, is very protective of him. Matt tries to avoid Foggy’s younger sister, Candace Nelson, whose flirtatiousness makes him uncomfortable. He continues staying at the New York Hilton Hotel, not sure how long he’ll remain in the city due to his unresolved romantic entanglement with the California-based Black Widow. At night, Daredevil also searches the city for his old foe, the Beetle, while disrupting a variety of street-level criminal activity. Matt soon realizes how glad he is to be back in his hometown, having felt out of his element during his long sojourn in San Francisco.
February 1967 – Several weeks later, Black Spectre installs a large wreathed swastika on top of the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital, soon issuing a statement claiming credit for the prank. The National Park Service has the offensive symbol removed as quickly as possible. Matt is frustrated that he’s made no real progress in his investigation into Black Spectre’s activities, either through the D.A.’s office or in his role as a superhero. To Matt’s relief, Foggy is finally moved out of intensive care, though he experiences complications that necessitate him remaining hospitalized. Between his parents, sister, girlfriend, and colleagues, Foggy has a strong support network and is able to keep his spirits up.
March 1967 – Early in the month, Black Spectre drapes Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in black shrouds, as if to signify a nation in mourning. Again, the National Park Service soon has the drapery removed from the building. His investigation stalled, Matt wonders what all these relatively harmless pranks are leading up to. Unable to find any trace of the Beetle, Daredevil begins to wonder if the villain has been killed by Black Spectre agents.
April 1967 – Matt is furious when Black Spectre uses some kind of laser device to carve Adolf Hitler’s face onto Mount Rushmore in South Dakota overnight. Fortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. assists the National Park Service with restoring the monument. Slowly regaining his strength, Foggy is eager to spend more time attending to his duties as district attorney, though Matt is wary of overburdening him.
May 1967 – Daredevil finally catches a break when he finds Black Spectre agents dumping large amounts of counterfeit cash—made with the government printing plates they stole last Christmas Eve—off a rooftop on Wall Street, driving thousands of people to riot in the street, nearly mad with greed as they try to grab as many of the fluttering bills as they can. To his surprise, Daredevil realizes that all of the Black Spectre agents at the scene are women, their gender hidden by their bulky uniforms and helmets but revealed by his hypersenses. They try to recruit the hero to their cause, but he ignores their outlandish rhetoric. Suddenly, the Beetle joins the fight, determined to get revenge on Black Spectre for ruining his Christmas Eve heist. Realizing they’re overmatched, the terrorists flee into the frenzied crowd and escape. The Beetle then catches Daredevil off guard and throws him into a wall, knocking him out. When he comes to, Daredevil is confused to find San Francisco Police Commissioner Robert “Ironguts” O’Hara looming over him. O’Hara explains that he has just returned to the United States from Africa, where he went to bury his murdered brother last fall, and wants to lend a hand against Black Spectre. Daredevil suggests he go meet with District Attorney Nelson at the hospital, then makes sure to beat O’Hara there and quickly change back into Matt Murdock. When O’Hara arrives, Foggy, confined to a wheelchair but able to hang out in the hospital’s solarium, shows him photo enlargements he’s had made of the scenes of Black Spectre’s recent outrages, revealing that a dirigible was present each time. They wonder why a terrorist organization would use such an unlikely mode of transport. Unexpectedly, the Commissioner’s niece, Dr. Shanna O’Hara, enters the room with two pet leopards, called Ina and Biri, and announces that the leader of Black Spectre is the same man who murdered her father last year in Africa. Gerald O’Hara, she explains, made a fortune in the African diamond trade before being kidnapped a little over a year ago by a mutant terrorist known as the Mandrill, who commanded his own private army. Shanna spent several months trying to find him, only to learn last November that her father’s body had turned up in Cape Town, South Africa. She was shocked to discover that her father’s will bequeathed all the assets of the diamond business to someone named “Hensley Fargus,” which she suspects is an alias used by the Mandrill. Though she has no proof yet, Shanna is convinced that her father’s fortune is being used to finance Black Spectre. Matt’s hypersenses tell him that Shanna is not telling all she knows, though he is intrigued by her unusually high levels of physical fitness and self-confidence. Foggy thanks her for the information and promises to follow up on it.
The next evening, Daredevil is swinging through the city on his billy-club cable when an explosion atop a skyscraper he’s passing sends chunks of masonry raining down on the street below. Twisting to avoid the debris, Daredevil loses his grip on his billy club and falls, though he manages to save himself by grabbing onto a construction crane. Learning from a police officer that the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building headquarters was the source of the explosion, Daredevil determines to give the superhero team a piece of his mind. In the lobby, he runs into the Thing, who has come down to see if anyone was hurt by the falling rubble. Inviting Daredevil upstairs, the Thing explains that the blast was caused by an alien man named Wundarr, who, despite his dangerous superhuman powers, has the intellect of a toddler. In the tower, Daredevil meets Wundarr and retrieves his billy club with some help from Mister Fantastic. He is intrigued by the high-tech costume Mister Fantastic has created to prevent Wundarr from being a “walking bomb” any longer and wonders why the cantankerous Thing, of all people, seems to have been made Wundarr’s primary caregiver. Daredevil then goes to meet Shanna O’Hara at her hotel room and hears again her tale of the Mandrill, still convinced that she’s withholding some vital information.
Frustrated, Daredevil continues on to Greenwich Village, where he changes back into Matt Murdock. Matt has somewhat reluctantly agreed to accompany Candace Nelson, a graduate student at Empire State University, to a patriotic avant-garde stage play called America Shall Endure. Along with the rest of the audience, Matt and Candace are horrified when an actor dressed as Captain America savagely beats another actor playing a Civil War-era slave, only to be shot dead by a third actor portraying Adolf Hitler. That actor then shoots himself in the head, blowing his brains all over the stage, before Matt can even decide what to do. The audience panics and stampedes out of the theater, so Matt takes advantage of the chaos and allows himself to be separated from Candace. He then changes into Daredevil and pursues a Black Spectre agent out the stage door into an alley behind the theater, realizing the terrorist must have somehow hypnotized the actors to cause the bloodbath. Unfortunately, he is ambushed by Natasha Romanoff, who helps the terrorist escape in the organization’s dirigible. Daredevil is bewildered, wondering if the Black Widow could possibly be so angry at him for leaving her last Christmas Eve that she would join a group like Black Spectre. Intent on finding out, he races back to the Baxter Building and tries to commandeer the Fantasti-Car. He is stopped by the Thing, but after learning of the dire situation, the Thing agrees to join him in his pursuit of the dirigible. When the two heroes catch up to the villains’ airship, though, they discover it is actually a jet aircraft disguised as a dirigible. The Thing smashes his way through the airship’s electrified hull and starts fighting with Natasha, numerous Black Spectre agents, and a mutant woman calling herself Nekra, Priestess of Darkness. By the time Daredevil drops into the vessel as well, the Thing has battled his way into another room. Nekra and the Black Widow team up against Daredevil and quickly knock him out. Regaining consciousness, Daredevil finds himself and the dazed Thing plunging toward the ground in the Fantasti-Car. He manages to get the vehicle’s engines restarted and pull it out of its nose-dive, giving the Thing the chance to come to and bring it to a safe landing on the New Jersey Palisades. On the way back to Manhattan, the Thing reveals that he saw the face of Black Spectre’s leader, and it was not recognizably human—lending credence to Shanna’s assertion that the organization is led by the Mandrill. Frustrated that they lost the fight, the Thing is ready to go back for round two, but Daredevil insists that he’s more effective when he works alone.
Around midnight, Daredevil manages to capture two Black Spectre agents whom he finds running through a back alley. His hypersenses confirm that they, like all the others, are women. He calls the police and has the terrorists taken in for questioning. While the pair is being interrogated, Daredevil phones Commissioner O’Hara at his hotel and asks him and Shanna to come down to the station. The frustrated cops then inform Daredevil that the suspects have refused to say a word since being brought in. Daredevil is surprised when one cop mentions that both women have strange tattoos on their faces, but he tries to cover up the fact that he was unaware of something a sighted person would find glaringly obvious. No sooner have the O’Haras entered the station (with the two leopards) than the interrogation room is blown apart by a tremendous explosion. The charred remains of the two terrorists are found in the rubble, and it is determined that they committed suicide rather than betray their compatriots. Exhausted, Daredevil heads back to his hotel to get some sleep. However, he is surprised to find the Mandrill there, waiting for him along with another of his female agents. Chortling, the Mandrill reveals that the Black Widow has informed the terrorists of Daredevil’s secret identity. The hero is shocked by this betrayal, but the Mandrill explains that both he and Nekra are mutants, their parents having been exposed to radiation while working on the Manhattan Project. Ostracized for the early manifestations of their mutations, the pair met as young runaways and, upon coming into their full powers as teenagers, decided to strike back at the society that had rejected them for being different. Over time, the Mandrill realized that, in addition to his monkey-like appearance, he had the power to mentally dominate women and bend them to his will—including Nekra. Daredevil realizes with some relief that this is how they managed to get Natasha to join their organization and reveal his secrets. Having heard enough, Daredevil attacks his foe, and their battle carries them down to the busy sidewalk on W. 53rd St. When police arrive on the scene, the Mandrill decides to retreat. Daredevil is unable to pursue him as the jostling crowd moves in, overwhelming his hypersenses.
Daredevil then pays a visit to Shanna, rousting her and her leopards out of bed. She summons her uncle from his adjoining room, whereupon Daredevil confirms her suspicion that the Mandrill is the leader of Black Spectre and reveals what he’s learned about the villains’ mutant powers. Thoroughly exhausted, he suggests they meet with Foggy at the hospital in the morning to decide what to do next. He then swings off on his billy-club cable, only to be immediately ambushed by an armored Japanese swordsman calling himself the Silver Samurai. Daredevil is shocked as his foe’s sword effortlessly cuts through stone walls and iron lampposts. He realizes that, due to his fatigue, it’s all he can do to avoid getting killed. Fortunately, Ina and Biri leap into the fray, with Shanna close behind. Working together, they are able to force the Silver Samurai to retreat, and Daredevil is very impressed with Shanna’s athletic prowess. She is eager to pursue the villain, but Daredevil insists on getting some sleep first.
Thus, several hours later, Daredevil meets up with the O’Haras and Foggy in the hospital solarium, where Shanna admits to withholding information because she wanted to deal with the Mandrill herself. However, she now realizes that his mutant power to control women makes that impossible. Shanna explains that she has battled Nekra before—in fact, Nekra murdered her boyfriend—and during the months she was searching for the villains in hopes of rescuing her father, she was working closely with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and they found evidence that the Silver Samurai was working for the Mandrill. As if on cue, the Silver Samurai then crashes through the solarium windows, accompanied by several Black Spectre agents. They kidnap Shanna after stunning her leopards, and though Daredevil makes a valiant attempt to stop them, he gets knocked out by Nekra. After regaining consciousness, he changes into Matt Murdock and returns to the solarium. There, Candace informs him that Foggy is back in his private room and Commissioner O’Hara is being treated for minor injuries. Needing some time to recover from the battle himself, Matt invites Candace to the hospital coffee shop and learns that she has gotten herself into some kind of trouble at school, though she refuses to discuss it.
At dusk, Daredevil finds Black Spectre’s phony dirigible hovering over the Empire State Building, where the Silver Samurai and several female agents are sabotaging the 200-foot TV transmission tower on the roof. Daredevil confronts them but quickly realizes he is badly outnumbered. He decides to storm the aircraft instead and confront the Mandrill directly. While climbing up the ship’s rope ladder, he senses the transmission tower crashing to the street below, killing several people on impact. Nekra climbs down the ladder to deal with him, but Daredevil evades her using his gymnastic skills. He climbs into the ship, only to be immediately attacked by the Mandrill and kept busy until Nekra can climb back up and knock him out again with a karate chop. Daredevil comes to later and finds himself being held prisoner alongside the unconscious Shanna somewhere within the airship. He overhears the Mandrill telling Nekra that he plans to dissect Daredevil’s brain to find out how his radar sense works. The villain is also intent on discovering why Shanna is immune to his influence, a revelation Daredevil finds interesting. When the pair has left the area, Daredevil pleads with the Black Widow to set him free, but she refuses. When Shanna comes to, she suggests that an emotional shock might overcome the Mandrill’s influence, so Daredevil reminds Natasha of their contentious parting last Christmas Eve. The gambit succeeds and Natasha releases Daredevil and Shanna, leading them to where all the Black Spectre jetpacks are stored. After Natasha has rigged the jetpacks’ fuel source to explode, she, Daredevil, and Shanna fly out of the ship, discovering that it is now hovering above the White House in Washington, D.C. Daredevil senses a large simian-shaped idol on the lawn with a blazing cauldron in its lap. Numerous Black Spectre agents have shed their bulky uniforms and are dancing around the idol. A contingent of soldiers have them surrounded but aren’t taking any action for some reason.
The three heroes crash into the Oval Office, where they find the Mandrill seated at the President’s desk. Daredevil attacks him immediately while the Black Widow takes on Nekra and Shanna deals with some of their agents. The battle soon leads the two men up to the roof, where the Mandrill manages to gain the upper hand. Luckily, he is distracted when the phony dirigible blows up and crashes to the ground, enabling Daredevil to break the villain’s grip and kick him off the roof. Convinced that the Mandrill must have broken his neck when he landed, Daredevil races back to the Oval Office. He is relieved to find that the Black Widow has already defeated Nekra, who was likewise distracted by the exploding airship. Shanna is furious when no trace of the Mandrill’s body can be found, and she castigates Daredevil for not verifying that he was dead, thus allowing her father’s killer to escape. The Black Widow tries to comfort Shanna, and Daredevil feels terrible. The soldiers finally move in and take the remaining Black Spectre agents into custody. Due to her dangerous mutant powers, Nekra is remanded into the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil is further dispirited when the Army general overseeing the mopping-up operation suggests that the proper response to the incident is further mistrust and oppression of those who are different—the very attitude that drove the Mandrill and Nekra to a life of crime in the first place.
A few days later, Foggy is finally released from the hospital, although Debbie continues to fuss over him. Matt then takes Natasha, Shanna, and Commissioner O’Hara to the airport for their flight back to California. At the gate, Matt suggests he may move back to San Francisco eventually, after he helps Foggy get the district attorney’s office back on track following his extended hospitalization. After the O’Haras have boarded the plane, Matt and Natasha bid each other an awkward farewell, as neither can quite find the words to express their feelings. Finally, Natasha just kisses Matt, then turns and boards the plane without another word. He is left reeling with conflicting emotions.
June 1967 – Following the kidnapping of Gail Callan, the teenaged daughter of a wealthy industrialist, the kidnappers demand that Assistant District Attorney Matt Murdock deliver the ransom, since he is blind and won’t be able to identify them. However, Matt’s hypersenses soon reveal the villains to be his old foes, the animal-themed Unholy Three. After handing the ransom over to Cat-Man, Matt changes into Daredevil and follows him, hoping he’ll lead him to where Ape-Man and Bird-Man are holding Gail. Unfortunately, Spider-Man interferes, mistaking Cat-Man for a burglar. Thus, Daredevil picks a fight with the web-slinger, to prevent him from apprehending the crook. Once Cat-Man has fled the scene, Daredevil stops the fight and explains the situation. Spider-Man agrees to team up with Daredevil to rescue Gail, whereupon they track Cat-Man to Steeplechase Park, a closed-down section of the Coney Island amusement complex. While Daredevil keeps the Unholy Three busy, Spider-Man sneaks Gail out and carries her to safety. The heroes quickly defeat Bird-Man and Cat-Man, but Ape-Man manages to grab Gail again and take her to the top of a roller coaster. Spider-Man sends the roller coaster cars crashing into Ape-Man, causing him to drop the terrified Gail into Daredevil’s arms. After webbing up the Unholy Three and summoning the police, Spider-Man departs. Daredevil makes sure that both Gail and the ransom are safely returned to her father.
When Candace Nelson is kidnapped by the Gladiator, Matt and Foggy learn that she was grabbed while being arrested by the FBI; the Gladiator nearly killed the two FBI agents and stole a set of papers that were the subject of the federal investigation. Matt remembers Candace mentioning some trouble at school, so he heads over to Empire State University and questions her mentor, journalism professor Charles Laing, who reveals that Candace was working on an exposé about the school’s involvement in questionable military research during the 1950s. She had discovered files in the university archives relating to a top-secret project dubbed Operation: Sulfur, led by a member of the chemistry faculty named Theodore Sallis. Dr. Sallis was apparently trying to develop a serum that would alter human biochemistry to allow people to survive even the most toxic industrial pollution—in effect by mutating them into pollution-breathing monsters. Sallis eventually turned against the project and had it shut down. Matt is frustrated to learn that Sallis disappeared a couple years ago while working on a new project in the Florida Everglades, but he reasons that the Gladiator may try to track down Sallis as well, if he’s interested in the Operation: Sulfur research. Thus, Matt decides to head down to Florida at once, after checking in with Foggy.
Arriving in Citrusville, Florida—where Sallis was last seen—a few hours later, Matt meets radio disc jockey Richard Rory, who has done some reporting on Sallis’s disappearance. Rory reveals that Sallis’s abandoned laboratory out in the swamp was the site of a mysterious triple-murder just two months ago, but then he starts going on about the local swamp monster, known as the “Man-Thing,” claiming to have seen the creature himself. Incredulous, Matt has Rory drive him out to the lab, which turns out to be little more than a wooden shack. There, Matt’s hypersenses immediately detect both the Gladiator and Candace within the dilapidated structure. Unfortunately, the Gladiator comes charging out and attacks them, knocking Rory unconscious. Matt is able to dash into the trees and change into Daredevil, but the fight does not go well—his leg is injured and he is knocked out when his foe’s wrist-mounted buzzsaws send a heavy branch crashing down on him. Coming to several minutes later, Daredevil is shocked to find the Man-Thing, a hulking creature made of muck and slime, struggling with the Gladiator. Where the monster is touching his bare flesh, the Gladiator’s skin is burning, producing a horrible smell. Nearby stands a wraith-like figure whom the Gladiator calls Death-Stalker—mostly just a blur to Daredevil’s radar sense, with no discernable heartbeat. When Death-Stalker causes the Man-Thing to collapse to the ground with a mere touch of his hand, Daredevil pounces on the phantom and tries to punch him in the face. To his shock, Daredevil discovers there is nothing under his foe’s hat but a void of numbing cold. Laughing, Death-Stalker easily avoids Daredevil’s clumsy follow-up attacks and renders the hero unconscious just by laying a hand on his shoulder.
Daredevil is relieved to regain consciousness sometime later, for he felt as if he were dying. However, he finds himself and Rory tied to chairs inside Sallis’s shack, which is burning down. There is no sign of Death-Stalker or Candace, so Daredevil quickly frees himself and carries the still-unconscious Rory out of the collapsing building. He then senses the Man-Thing lurking nearby, with the Gladiator—also knocked out cold—in its arms. Daredevil approaches cautiously, but the monster makes no move against him. It merely drops the Gladiator to the ground and shambles back into the swamp. Mystified, Daredevil loads Rory and the Gladiator into the disc jockey’s Volkswagen bus and drives them to the Citrusville hospital, where he changes back into Matt Murdock and has his leg treated. Gladiator’s burns are likewise treated before he is taken into custody by the sheriff. Rory finally comes to and, after being treated for a concussion and minor smoke inhalation, is released. Confused by the day’s events, Rory wishes Matt luck in tracking down the kidnapped girl. Matt finds a payphone and calls Foggy, but when his old friend mentions Daredevil being in Florida, Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must now be holding both Nelson siblings prisoner. Worried, Matt hurries back to the Miami airport and catches the next flight to New York. There, Daredevil finds Foggy and Candace tied up in Foggy’s apartment and manages to drive Death-Stalker off with the help of a passing police officer.
After bringing Foggy up to date on the strange events in Florida, Matt convinces him to stash Candace in a hotel room rather than turning her over to the FBI, arguing that her life will be in danger as long as Death-Stalker knows where she is, given the villain’s ghost-like abilities. Foggy relents and goes to confer with the federal authorities, leaving Candace with Matt at his hotel. Candace again flirts with Matt, but when he gets irritated, she explains that she’s just trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the situation. As they discuss the case, Candace reveals that the Operation: Sulfur papers show that Sallis expected his test subjects to be immune to germ warfare as well as pollution, whereupon Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must be trying to sell the research on the black market. Determined not to let that happen, Matt makes up an excuse to step out, then changes into Daredevil and sets off in search of his foe. After a few hours, he finds him inside a chemical factory in Queens belonging to Osborn Laboratories, Inc. Though the facility has been shut down since Norman Osborn’s death last year, Daredevil detects activity within. Sure enough, the hero locates Death-Stalker and a gun-toting chemist on a catwalk above a huge vat of hydrochloric acid. After a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Daredevil causes Death-Stalker to plunge into the vat of acid, losing his billy club in the process. He then disarms the villain’s accomplice and tosses his pistol into the acid as well, along with the file of Sallis’s research, knowingly destroying the evidence in the government’s case against Candace. He justifies his action by telling himself that the papers were too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands. Realizing that he didn’t actually hear Death-Stalker being dissolved by the acid, Daredevil wonders if his foe managed to escape.
Returning to his hotel at dawn, Matt informs Foggy and Candace that Death-Stalker died fighting Daredevil and the Sallis papers were destroyed in the melee. To his surprise, Candace is upset by the news, since she won’t be able to do her exposé now. Foggy is relieved, however, and he and Matt spend the rest of the day in the office of the federal prosecutor arranging for the charges against Candace to be dropped. Then, following a worrisome phone call from Natasha, Matt catches a red-eye flight out to San Francisco. As Daredevil, he heads back to the north shore mansion they once shared, only to discover that the owner has evicted Natasha and Ivan for failing to pay the rent. While searching the city for the Russian expatriates, Daredevil comes across two gun-toting thugs menacing innocent bystanders and tackles them. During the ensuing brawl, the Black Widow shows up and lends a hand. With the gunmen subdued, Daredevil and the Black Widow embrace and kiss with surprising passion as the crowd around them cheers and applauds. Unfortunately, one of the thugs manages to slip away while the heroes are thus distracted. After a little while, they give up looking for him and start discussing Natasha’s financial woes. She explains that she has depleted her savings, having been unable to find gainful employment due to her notoriety, and so for the past week she and Ivan have been living out of her Rolls-Royce. Shocked, Daredevil insists that he would have helped her out if she’d let him know, but she insists that she’s been too proud to ask for his help until now. Suddenly, they are attacked by the Owl, who is backed up by a gang of armed henchmen in a helicopter. As it turns out, the two thugs whom the heroes beat up earlier were in the Owl’s employ, working as part of a protection racket he’s been running in the city. The Owl manages to poison Daredevil, and before losing consciousness, he senses the Black Widow being gunned down by the men in the helicopter.
When he regains consciousness sometime later, Daredevil finds himself strapped to a metal table in the Owl’s secret lair. His thoughts are muddled, and he overhears the villain and his henchmen discussing some kind of mind-probe they have subjected him to, using a device that has since been damaged by the Black Widow. Daredevil is relieved to know that Natasha is still alive. Then, the Black Widow enters, carrying Shanna O’Hara in her arms—apparently having made a deal with the Owl to kidnap her in exchange for Daredevil’s freedom. However, Daredevil can tell that Shanna is merely feigning unconsciousness. Unsurprisingly, the Owl attempts to double-cross the Black Widow, at which point Shanna springs into action, using karate against the henchmen and freeing Daredevil from his bonds. The Owl activates jets of tear gas concealed in the floor, but Daredevil nevertheless manages to punch the villain into his mind-probe machine, completely demolishing it. The Owl then tries to escape, but with the help of a couple of death-defying leaps, Daredevil captures him. Afterwards, Daredevil is pleased when Ivan Petrovich turns up with Lt. Paul Carson of the San Francisco Police Department. He and Carson take some time to get caught up while the Owl and his henchmen are taken into custody. Over the next few days, Matt and Natasha spend some quality time together while Ivan uses his mechanical engineering skills to build Daredevil a sophisticated new billy club. Finally, Daredevil and the Black Widow say goodbye to each other atop the Golden Gate Bridge. He asks her again to come back to New York with him, but she refuses, feeling it’s important that she maintain her independence despite being in love with him. For both of them, it’s a painful parting.
July 1967 – Daredevil continues his crimefighting crusade in New York City, though he finds himself second-guessing his decision to leave San Francisco and Natasha. He foils a plot by the Circus of Crime to rob their audience using a colony of bats controlled by their newest member, a man called Blackwing. The Ringmaster, Princess Python, Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno, and the Human Cannonball are among those taken into custody, though Blackwing manages to escape. Matt and Foggy are frustrated when Princess Python immediately breaks out of prison.
On a rooftop one evening, Daredevil is recruited for a mission to save the world by Nighthawk, whom he remembers as a fraudulent superhero he fought with a couple years ago. Nighthawk insists that he is now a bona fide hero and works with a team called the Defenders, which has so far kept its existence a secret. Though Daredevil is dubious, his hypersenses tell him that Nighthawk is not lying, therefore he agrees to help. Immediately, they are both teleported onto a large platform drifting in a void, where the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and a woman who calls herself the Valkyrie are waiting for them. An alien known as the Grandmaster then explains that the Defenders are to serve as his pawns in a game against a mystery opponent, with the fate of the earth hanging in the balance—if they win, the world will be left alone; if they lose, the human race will be enslaved; and if they refuse to cooperate, the planet will be destroyed. Daredevil is intrigued when the Grandmaster mentions that he gave Nighthawk his powers when forming a team called the Squadron Sinister to battle the Avengers in a similar game some years ago. While the Grandmaster is making his preparations, Nighthawk describes the alien as a “galactic gambling addict.” Soon, Daredevil and the Sub-Mariner are teleported to a highly volcanic world that stinks of sulfur, where they are supposed to fight two weird aliens to the death. The chaotic environment wreaks havoc with Daredevil’s hypersenses, and almost immediately he is thrown into a magma geyser and incinerated.
A moment later, however, Daredevil finds himself resurrected on a small space station, where he is reunited with the Defenders. The Grandmaster declares himself the victor in the contest but decides to renege on his pledge, believing Earth can provide him with generations of gladiators for his amusement. Outraged, the Defenders attack him, only to be easily brushed aside. Daredevil decides to try a different tack and, remembering Nighthawk’s words, goads the Grandmaster into wagering Earth’s freedom on a simple coin toss. Thus, Daredevil pries a metal disk off a bank of machinery and scratches an X on one side. As he flips it into the air, though, he uses his hypersenses to ensure that he wins the toss. The Grandmaster graciously accepts defeat and teleports the heroes back to New York City. Doctor Strange expresses his gratitude to Daredevil, though he has some reservations about risking the fate of the human race on the toss of a coin. Chuckling to himself, Daredevil assures the Defenders that the outcome was never in doubt.
Later, Matt is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in New York City has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the globe, but then the Fantastic Four announce that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
August 1967 – Matt is elated to receive a somewhat cryptic telegram from Natasha informing him that she’s planning to return to New York before the end of the year. She just needs a few months, she says, to straighten out her finances and settle her debts in San Francisco. Later, at the district attorney’s office, Matt learns that Candace is heading to Washington, D.C. for the next few months, to serve as the star witness in a congressional investigation into Operation: Sulfur. Candace is clearly excited to get her chance to expose the horrific research project, hoping to prevent other such abuses of science. Afterwards, Matt returns to his old neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen, to meet with “Pop” Fenton, his dad’s old boxing trainer, at Fogwell’s Gym. Fenton explains that he got a grant to convert the gym into a non-profit afterschool sports center for the neighborhood teens. He and his former protege, Kid Gawaine, who has given up boxing to study for the Catholic priesthood, then tell Matt about a promising bantamweight boxer named Juan Aponte, who has become the subject of unethical augmentation experiments conducted by a former city coroner, Dr. Jakkelburr. The experiments are apparently based on research Jakkelburr carried out on the corpse of the Crusher, a mutated Cuban strongman who died fighting Iron Man three years ago. They are concerned because the treatments seem to be altering Aponte’s personality and making him dangerous. Matt offers them some legal advice, but then Aponte and Jakkelburr turn up, accompanied by some hired thugs, intent on preventing Fenton and Gawaine from interfering with Aponte’s first heavyweight bout that night. In the ensuing scuffle, Matt allows himself to be shoved into the locker room, where he changes into Daredevil. The hero then confronts Aponte, who has transformed into a 12-foot giant with superhuman strength. Their battle wrecks the old building, and Aponte is mortally wounded when he impulsively saves Fenton and Gawaine from a collapsing wall. Reverting to his normal form, the dying Aponte apologizes for his rampage, saying he couldn’t control himself after his transformation. Sympathetic, Daredevil captures Jakkelburr and his thugs and turns them over to the police.
When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Daredevil heads out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Though the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—Daredevil focuses his efforts on the southern zone, which is closer to the district attorney’s offices. There, he senses Iron Man, Hawkeye, and the Fantastic Four have also joined in the rescue efforts.
Matt is curious when the American Museum of Natural History announces a gala opening of their new exhibit—the Man-Thing. The day after the opening, though, Matt learns that the creature became so agitated that it broke out of its enclosure and took off down the street. The Man-Thing made it as far as Columbus Circle, where it collapsed into the fountain. The museum then made arrangements to have the monster shipped back to the Florida Everglades, with help from Stark International. Remembering his recent encounter with the Man-Thing, Matt thinks it’s for the best that it be left alone in its natural habitat.
September 1967 – Matt pays a visit to the Waldorf Astoria hotel to give an official warning to a trio of San Francisco-based martial arts experts—Lin Sun, Abe Brown, and Bob Diamond—who have been linked to recent acts of large-scale destruction on the west coast. However, as he is approaching their suite, the three men come charging out and race to the elevator. Matt senses about half-a-dozen unconscious ninja assassins on the floor of their hotel room and is impressed by the trio’s fighting prowess. A few hours later, a section of the Queensboro Bridge is bombed and collapses, though there’s no evidence tying Sun, Brown, and Diamond to the disaster.
October–November 1967 – Daredevil continues to plague New York City’s criminal underworld, focusing mainly on street crime. Confident that he won’t be returning to San Francisco, Matt finally moves out of the New York Hilton Hotel and into a brownstone in the Lennox Hill neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His new place is near the Queensboro Bridge, which is undergoing reconstruction, and is not too far from Avengers Mansion, where, he learns, Moondragon has been staying. Though tempted, Matt decides not to look her up, anticipating Natasha’s arrival.
December 1967 – For about 18 hours, Daredevil finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. He then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
On New Year’s Eve, Matt goes to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Natasha and Ivan. Their reunion is disrupted by a gang of machine gun-toting terrorist hijackers, but Daredevil and the Black Widow quickly beat them senseless in the baggage claim area. Leaving Ivan to deal with the luggage, the two costumed lovers head out into the falling snow to discuss their relationship. Though reluctant at first, Natasha finally opens up and admits that she doesn’t like feeling like Daredevil’s sidekick when they’re out fighting crime together. He is disturbed by the thought that Natasha believes their love affair is eroding her sense of fierce independence and decides to change the subject. Entering his new apartment, Daredevil pulls out his tuxedo and tells Natasha to change into something sexy for a swanky New Year’s Eve party. When Ivan finally arrives, he grumbles about changing into a tuxedo as well but complies when Natasha insists. Matt is nervous, knowing that the party is being hosted by Foggy, against whom Natasha still holds a grudge for prosecuting her on a false murder charge. When they arrive at Foggy’s apartment and are greeted by his fiancée, Debbie Harris, Natasha gets angry and nearly storms out before Matt stops her. He insists that Foggy deeply regrets what happened and was being manipulated by the villain Mister Kline—and very nearly resigned as D.A. as a result. Ivan urges Natasha to let bygones be bygones, and she finally agrees to remain at the party for Matt’s sake. Noticing that Natasha is standing beneath some mistletoe, Foggy approaches her sheepishly and offers his apologies. Before Natasha can respond, a horde of HYDRA agents crashes through the windows.
The HYDRA agents spray a sedative gas around the apartment, knocking out most of the guests, including Ivan and Debbie. Matt bolts into a bedroom and changes into Daredevil, his hypersenses revealing that the leader of the HYDRA commando squad is a Hispanic man calling himself the Jaguar and they are there to kidnap Foggy. Daredevil swings back into the apartment through another window and attacks the Jaguar, ducking under his slashing claws to turn out the lights. Unfortunately, the Jaguar is able to see in the dark, and their furious battle quickly trashes Foggy’s apartment. Daredevil finally gains the upper hand, only to be distracted by the arrival of Nick Fury, along with over a dozen of his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The Jaguar smashes down the front door and flees, but Fury insists that his agents will apprehend him. However, Contessa Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine soon enters and reports that the Jaguar slipped through their security perimeter, as they were not prepared for his superhuman speed. Daredevil is irate that Fury’s agents let their foe get away. Foggy and Debbie are confused as to why they would be targeted by HYDRA, so Fury explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. is considering Foggy for its new board of directors. The agency is being reorganized, he reveals, and will no longer be under the direct command of the President of the United States. Several candidates for the new board of directors are being considered, chosen from various sectors of public service. Foggy is honored but says he’ll need to think it over. Debbie is worried about HYDRA attacking them again, but Fury insists S.H.I.E.L.D. can protect them. When Ivan wonders aloud where Matt has gotten to, Daredevil takes the hint and swings off, wishing Foggy good luck. He then sneaks back in through the bedroom window, changes out of his costume, and rejoins the others, claiming to have been knocked out during the fight. Fury and his agents take Foggy to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to debrief him for a few hours, leaving a small detachment to guard Debbie. Matt, Natasha, and Ivan say goodnight and head back to Matt’s townhouse. After dropping off the two lovers, Ivan drives back to keep an eye on Foggy’s apartment building. Happy to be reunited at last, Matt and Natasha ring in the new year together.
Notes:
January–May 1967 – Daredevil’s adventures continue in Daredevil #109 and following. Black Spectre’s activities cover significantly more time than is apparent in the story as written. Daredevil teams up with the Thing, learns of Shanna O’Hara’s recent ordeal, attends the ill-fated stage play, encounters the Black Widow, and meets Nekra in Marvel Two-in-One #3. Presumably, the hypnotized actors were not performing America Shall Endure as written but were forced into a catastrophic sort of improv. Shanna’s tale recounts the events of her short-lived series Shanna the She-Devil, part of Marvel’s half-hearted attempt to expand their female readership. Her immunity to the Mandrill’s influence is probably due to the inhabiting spirit known as the Queen of the Pride that she inherited from her mother (as revealed in Marvel Fanfare #59). In addition to destroying the TV transmission tower atop the Empire State Building, Black Spectre agents also sabotage similar media infrastructure across the country, disrupting television broadcasts nationwide, as well as cutting long-distance telephone lines and jamming shortwave radio frequencies. Furthermore, the Mandrill tells the U.S. military, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four that he has an atomic bomb ready to destroy New York City should they interfere with his plans to overthrow the federal government—a claim eventually revealed to be a hoax. The Mandrill does indeed escape at the end and flees with some of his thralls to South America. The disposition of the unconscious Nekra is revealed in the flashback in Spider-Woman #16.
June 1967 – Daredevil and Spider-Man join forces against the Unholy Three in Marvel Team-Up #25. The triple-homicide in Ted Sallis’s swamp shack takes place in the Man-Thing text story in Monsters Unleashed #8–9. Daredevil is unaware that he battled Death-Stalker three years ago, when the villain was known as the Exterminator, as chronicled in Daredevil #39–41. The explosion that seemingly killed the Exterminator actually left him partially phased into an interdimensional limbo, where he mutated into the Death-Stalker.
July 1967 – Princess Python’s jailbreak is revealed in Captain America #180. Daredevil teams up with the Defenders for the contest between the Grandmaster and Doctor Doom’s Prime Mover robot in Giant-Size Defenders #3, where he and the Sub-Mariner are handily defeated by Dumog the Fomalhauti and Teju the Reptoid. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for 48 hours by alien invaders in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3, in which Matt Murdock remains behind the scenes.
August 1967 – Interestingly, it’s entirely possible that Dr. Jakkelburr’s research on the Crusher formed the basis for Karl Malus’s later augmentation work for Power Broker, Inc. Earthquakes strike Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Man-Thing makes his New York City debut in Giant-Size Man-Thing #2. Matt again remains behind the scenes.
September 1967 – Matt’s brief encounter with the Sons of the Tiger occurs in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8.
December 1967 – Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in Thor #233. Nick Fury’s attempt to recruit Foggy Nelson brings us up to Daredevil #121. The reorganization of S.H.I.E.L.D. is likely in response to last year’s Secret Empire plot, which involved their leader becoming President of the United States, as detailed in OMU: POTUS – Part Three.
Jump Back: Daredevil – Year Five
Next Issue: Thor – Year Six
Friday
OMU: Captain America -- Year Six
The career of Captain America goes sideways during the next twelve months of his life as writer Steve Englehart digs deep into who Steve Rogers is and what makes him tick. Utterly disillusioned after discovering that the President of the United States was at the center of a conspiracy to turn the nation into a fascist dictatorship, the hero abandons his patriotic identity to become a bitter loner called Nomad, the Man Without a Country. This alienates him from his partner, the Falcon; his lover, Sharon Carter; and his colleagues in the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., forcing him to explore and re-evaluate his personal philosophy. The storyline ran for an impressive eight issues before the status quo was restored to mark the character’s 34th anniversary. Englehart closes the Nomad saga with his summation of the overarching theme of the Original Marvel Universe at this point: “There are many risings and advancings of the spirit.”
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
Continuing on with... The True History of Captain America!
January–April 1967 – Burdened by the revelations from the recent Secret Empire fiasco, Steve Rogers continues performing routine duties as Captain America, though his heart is no longer in it. He attends Avengers meetings, works out in the team’s training facilities, and occasionally visits with the convalescent Whizzer—a former teammate from World War II whom he barely remembers due to the lingering effects of his post-cryogenic amnesia. Feeling the other Avengers don’t understand what he’s going through, Steve prefers to spend his nights sleeping on a cot in the office in Harlem where Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon, performs his day job as a social worker. He grows increasingly bitter about the way the public turned against him as a result of the Secret Empire’s smear campaign, believing that all the charity work and public service he’s performed over the last four years should have earned him the benefit of the doubt. He wonders if people have just come to take Captain America for granted, devaluing his heroism. On the other hand, old-fashioned hero worship has proven to have a dark side—all the corrupt politicians in league with the Secret Empire won the respect and admiration of a broad swath of the American public. Plus, no longer united by a common enemy like the Nazis, he realizes, Americans have slowly fragmented into squabbling factions, resulting in several competing notions of what the nation stands for. How is he supposed to embody such diverse, often mutually exclusive ideals?
Steve is infuriated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures Steve that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
May 1967 – The situation with Black Spectre goes from bad to worse when they claim to have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. The bomb threat turns out to be a hoax. Steve is relieved, but the incident makes him wonder if Captain America is really even needed anymore.
Steve takes a Sunday stroll through Central Park with his girlfriend, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, with whom he’s been spending a lot more time lately. Finding that several large animals have been set loose in the zoo, Steve dutifully changes into Captain America to check it out. However, he quickly discovers that the Thing has the situation well in hand. Inviting the couple back to the Baxter Building for coffee, the Thing explains that the commotion was caused by his young charge, Wundarr, a super-powered alien with the body of an adult and the mind of a toddler. Fortunately, the Sub-Mariner’s cousin Namorita and her college roommate have agreed to take responsibility for Wundarr, to the Thing’s great relief. When they arrive at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Cap and Sharon are greeted by Mister Fantastic and Medusa, who are performing maintenance on the team’s time machine. An accident causes a young woman named Tarin to materialize from the year 3014. Cap is horrified by Tarin’s tale of how she has spent the last seven years as a slave of the Badoon, vicious aliens who conquered the solar system, wiping out most of the human race in the process. The few humans who survive in slavery remember Captain America, she reveals, as a symbol of liberty and hope. In fact, the leaders of the resistance movement, known as “the Guardians of the Galaxy,” have even named their spaceship after him. Feeling personally invested in Tarin’s plight, as it reminds him of all those who suffered under Nazi domination during World War II, Cap asks to accompany Tarin back to the future. Sharon and the Thing eagerly volunteer as well. Uncertain of the dangers involved, Mister Fantastic offers them 24 hours in the future for a scouting mission. After briefing them on the time machine’s operation, Mister Fantastic sends Cap, Sharon, the Thing, and Tarin to the New York City of the 31st century.
Unfortunately, the three time-travelers are almost immediately captured by an armed patrol of zombie-like police—humans altered by the Badoon so they can neither feel pain nor be knocked unconscious—and a semi-armored creature known as the Monster of Badoon. Tarin manages to escape in the chaos, but the others are dragged before the alien leader, Sovereign Drang, and his sadistic aide, Inquisitor Ebor. Cap is subjected to a painful mind-probe but is soon rescued by the Thing, and with help from Sharon, they fight their way out of the palace and lose themselves in the darkened city streets. After several perilous hours, they finally make contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy when Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu rescue them from a Badoon patrol. Cap is fascinated by Astro’s tale of his own years spent in suspended animation, having left Earth in the late 1980s bound for Alpha Centauri aboard a sleeper ship. When he finally arrived a millennium later, Astro found himself a “man out of time,” much like Cap himself, as technological advances had allowed later human colonists to get there ahead of him. Learning that it was Astro who named the Guardians’ spaceship the Captain America, to honor his boyhood hero, Cap is a bit disheartened to realize that his legend has survived into the 31st century only because of this transplant from his own era. They soon rendezvous with Tarin and the rest of the human resistance movement, whereupon they stage a daring raid on the imperial palace and manage to capture Sovereign Drang despite sustaining heavy losses. Drang remains defiant, pointing out that the Badoon have conquered the entire solar system, so one rebel victory is inconsequential. Cap insists that the human war for independence is just beginning, a sentiment echoed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. A few hours later, the time machine’s glowing platform reappears and Cap, Sharon, and the Thing wish their new allies good luck before returning to the present day. After leaving the Baxter Building, Steve becomes dispirited by the thought that, despite whatever the Avengers may accomplish, humanity will be nearly wiped out by lizard people in a little over a thousand years.
Steve is annoyed when S.H.I.E.L.D. fabricates a story that former U.S. president Morris N. Richardson has died as a result of the health problems that led to his reported resignation last November. Steve knows this is part of the cover-up the agency engineered to prevent the public from learning that the duly-elected President of the United States was behind the Secret Empire’s conspiracy to turn America into a totalitarian dictatorship. Unaware of this, however, the media follows with numerous tributes hailing Richardson as a true American hero and patriot, much to Steve’s disgust. What little remaining faith Steve has in what Captain America represents collapses.
June 1967 – At Avengers Mansion one stormy evening, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, the Falcon, and Peggy Carter try to talk Cap out of abandoning his costumed identity, but his mind is made up. He has realized that he can no longer embody a nation that allowed its noble ideals to be turned into a cynical sham. The others are stunned by this turn of events and wonder what could possibly have happened to him inside the White House during the battle with the Secret Empire, but Cap maintains that he is not at liberty to discuss it. Sharon is supportive of his decision, so Steve locks his costume and shield away in a vault beneath the mansion and officially resigns from the team. The next morning, Steve gets into an argument with the Falcon, who can’t seem to accept that Captain America is no more. Finally, the Falcon flies off in a huff, so Steve heads over to Sharon’s Park Avenue townhouse. Along the way, he finds that Captain America’s retirement is the talk of the town. Most people seem either saddened or angered by the news, leaving Steve feeling even more isolated than before. Sharon insists that she’s happy with the choice he’s made and is looking forward to spending the day together. Later, however, while strolling past the city jail, they discover the Falcon has been beaten up by two assailants who have fled the scene. Falcon is furious that his partner was not there when he needed him, but Steve insists that he’s just a sympathetic bystander now. As the Falcon storms off, Steve wonders if quitting his superhero life is going to cost him all his friends. Sharon does her best to cheer him up.
The following day, while working out at a gymnasium in Brooklyn, Steve meets a jocular kid named Roscoe Simons, and they discuss Captain America’s mysterious retirement. Roscoe suggests that Cap should make a public appearance to explain why he’s no longer making public appearances, and Steve appreciates his wry sense of humor. He then heads over to Sharon’s townhouse to take her out for a day at the beach. The mood is spoiled, though, when Peggy arrives, distraught over Captain America’s “disappearance.” She is desperate to find him, having convinced herself that the man she loves is in terrible danger. Peggy still does not realize that her sister’s boyfriend Steve is the costumed hero she fell in love with during World War II. Gabe Jones, Peggy’s S.H.I.E.L.D. trainer, has brought her home due to her rapidly deteriorating emotional state and tries to guilt Steve into dealing with the situation before it wrecks Peggy’s new career. Steve is frustrated with the way he and Sharon have handled things since Peggy emerged from her catatonic state last year. As usual, though, Sharon doesn’t want to talk about it.
Several hours later, Steve is heading back to his cot in Sam Wilson’s office when he sees the Falcon blasted out of the sky by a trio of bulky robots that he’s fighting. Horrified, Steve realizes he can’t just walk away when his former partner is in such peril, so he dashes into a sporting goods store and buys a ski mask to disguise himself with. He then confronts two identically dressed villains, both of whom call themselves “Lucifer,” and stops them from killing the unconscious Falcon. During the ensuing battle, Steve maneuvers the robots into destroying each other, at the same time berating himself for leaping into action at the first opportunity despite all his agonized soul-searching. One after the other, the two villains collapse to the ground, convulsing in pain, and Steve realizes that “Lucifer” is actually some kind of entity—possibly demonic—possessing both men, and its malevolent energy has burned out its host bodies. There is nothing Steve can do as the two men die horribly. When he unmasks the two dead men, Steve finds that one is Rafe Michel, an acquaintance of the Falcon’s girlfriend, Leila Taylor, whom he met a couple years ago. The other is Grover Raymond, who served as the second Aries in the international crime cartel Zodiac until being arrested last November following their defeat by the Avengers. When Falcon comes to, he is humiliated and angry that Steve has swooped in to rescue him despite refusing to continue on as his partner. Falcon berates Steve for his ‘white savior’ act and tells him to stay out of his business from now on. Steve is discouraged, feeling that his new life is falling apart all around him.
Over the next couple weeks, Steve gets to know Roscoe Simons better during his daily workouts at the gym in Brooklyn and is buoyed by the kid’s upbeat attitude. He also spends time with Sharon every day, for she often seems to be the one bright spot in his now-mundane life. On the way back to Sharon’s townhouse from the grocery store one afternoon, Steve tells Sharon that it’s time to let Peggy know the truth about their love affair, feeling it’s wrong to allow her to persist with her romantic fantasy from the 1940s. He knows they did it to protect Peggy’s feelings, but now he fears it’s doing more harm than good. Suddenly, the couple is attacked by a costumed supervillain calling himself the Golden Archer, who shoots trick-arrows at them while speaking in a faux-Shakespearean style. Steve is concerned when he realizes the Golden Archer knows he used to be Captain America. Sharon is frustrated that the shadow of Steve’s former life is still hanging over them.
Later, the Golden Archer attacks again while Steve is working out at the gym, and Roscoe is amazed by Steve’s athleticism as he chases the villain off. Steve then returns to Sharon’s townhouse, where he broods on the fire escape until Peggy comes home from her day as a S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee. Keeping to the shadows, Steve calls out to Peggy, calling her by her old code name, “Mademoiselle.” Her joy quickly dissolves into tears as Steve informs her that what they had together during the war just can’t exist in the present day. Peggy runs off sobbing, and feeling like a heel, Steve is about to go after her when the Golden Archer intervenes. Enraged, Steve chases the villain across the rooftops, but the Golden Archer finally dazzles him with a flash-arrow and escapes. Fed up, Steve heads back to Sam Wilson’s office and sets a trap for his foe, propping up a dummy behind a window shade and then concealing himself on a rooftop across the street. Sure enough, the Golden Archer soon appears, whereupon Steve tackles him and quickly beats him into submission. The Golden Archer surrenders and pulls off his disguise, revealing himself to be Captain America’s former teammate Hawkeye. Steve is shocked, but Clint Barton quickly explains that he wanted to convince Steve that giving up being a superhero was a big mistake. Also, Clint is grateful that Steve took him under his wing after he joined the Avengers and helped him become a better man—now he wants to return the favor. Steve appreciates Clint’s good intentions but insists that Captain America is not coming back, despite what everybody seems to think. Clint suggests that Steve create a completely new superhero persona instead, so his skills and abilities won’t go to waste. Disenchanted with his civilian life, Steve admits he’s intrigued by the idea.
July 1967 – Over the next few days, Steve convinces himself that Hawkeye’s idea really has merit—he could return to the life of action and adventure that he loves without being burdened with conflicting ideas about what America symbolizes. However, when he tells Sharon of his decision to become a superhero again, she gets upset and reveals that she supported his decision to retire because she always saw his Captain America identity as an impediment to their relationship. She accepted it then, she explains, because Steve was firmly established in that role when they met—but she doesn’t want to go back to that life of constant danger, hoping instead they could settle down and live like a normal couple. Steve admits he hadn’t thought about it from her perspective but insists that being a superhero is something he was born to do. He suggests they go to Sharon’s parents’ estate in Virginia to devise his new identity and work out his plans, but she refuses, telling him to go by himself if it means that much to him. Stunned, Steve leaves her townhouse and makes his way back to Harlem, wondering why things will never just come together for him.
In the morning, Steve leaves New York and rides his motorcycle down to Virginia, where he is greeted warmly by Harrison Carter and their butler, Smithers. After retiring to his room, Steve sketches out various costume designs, eventually deciding to keep it simple and not too different from what he had before, though he does add a flowing cape for some superhero panache. While making his new black-and-gold costume, he considers a number of possible codenames. Realizing that he has come to feel like “a man without a country,” Steve settles on the name Nomad. Thus, in Washington, D.C. a few nights later, Nomad makes his public debut. Steve realizes he hasn’t felt so free and unfettered since his first missions as Captain America way back in 1941. As luck would have it, he stumbles upon the Serpent Squad—the Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, and a female Viper—kidnapping a man in front of a movie theater as his wife screams for help. Chasing the villains into the theater, Nomad is distracted for a moment when he realizes the film being shown is a documentary about Captain America. During the ensuing fight, the Eel reveals that his brother, the original Viper, has been killed by the police. It is then that Nomad recognizes the new Viper as none other than Madame Hydra, proving that she did survive their previous encounter. She claims to have taken up the Viper identity in tribute to the slain villain. Though the crooks berate him as an amateur, Nomad fares quite well against his four foes until he trips on his own cape and slams his jaw into the floor. While the hero is stunned, the Serpent Squad escapes with their captive. Furious with himself, Nomad rips off his cape and throws it away. When the police arrive moments later, Nomad learns that the kidnapping victim is Hugh Jones, the C.E.O. of the Roxxon oil conglomerate. He vows to track down the Serpent Squad and free their captive.
Frustrated by his lack of leads, Nomad stops by the Lincoln Memorial in search of inspiration. There, he runs into the Sub-Mariner, who is hunting down his nemesis, Warlord Krang. Namor shows little interest in Captain America’s new identity as Nomad, but when he mentions that Krang is in league with the Serpent Squad, Nomad suggests they combine forces. From a nearby car radio they hear Krang announcing that the Serpent Squad is responsible for kidnapping the head of Roxxon Oil. Hugh Jones then reads a prepared statement, but there’s something odd about his voice, which Namor recognizes as resulting from the influence of the Serpent Crown, an ancient mystical artifact from the sunken civilization of Lemuria. Nomad then phones S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and speaks with Nick Fury, who recognizes his voice. Fury confirms that Roxxon has an oil-drilling platform near the coordinates mentioned by Nomad, so the two heroes board Namor’s submarine, moored in the Potomac River, and set off at once for Lemuria at high speed. A few hours later, after passing through the Panama Canal, the submarine arrives at the Roxxon oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where it is still daylight. Wanting to prove himself in battle, Nomad asks the Sub-Mariner to hang back in the sub while he confronts the villains. Namor agrees, so Nomad climbs aboard the rig, where he finds Jones wearing the Serpent Crown and looking like he’s in a trance. The Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, Viper, and Krang are present as well, so Nomad, seeing a strange disturbance in the water near the platform, attacks them without delay. Their brawl is interrupted by the arrival of Roxxon helicopters that strafe the platform with machine guns. Krang snatches the Serpent Crown off Jones’s head and tosses it to Viper. She and the Cobra escape in their aircraft while the others are pinned down by the shooting. Jones quickly comes out of his trance and informs his security forces that he’s shut off the pumps to prevent Lemuria from rising, though Nomad’s not really sure what he’s talking about. Nomad loses his temper when the Roxxon security guards treat him with contempt, punching one guy in the face. Though the Eel and Princess Python are taken into custody, Krang leaps into the ocean and escapes. Thus, Nomad hurries back to the submarine so he and Namor can pursue the fugitive Atlantean warlord.
When they lose Krang’s trail in the western Pacific, the Sub-Mariner agrees to drop Nomad off in Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, where they’ve learned the Avengers are on a mission. Nomad soon catches up with Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Vision, and Mantis and tells them what he’s been up to. They are glad to see he’s back in action, though they find his new costume hard to get used to. They inform him of the Swordsman’s death in Peking, China, late last month at the hands of Kang the Conqueror, and of how his burial was disrupted by the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo. Nomad is surprised to hear that the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. When Hawkeye checks in with the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, he reports that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that news, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers apprised of his activities. When he arrives in California the next day, however, Nomad finds that his quarry has already left town. He soon tracks them north to Seattle, Washington.
Nomad finds Viper and the Cobra holed up inside an abandoned house in Seattle, firing machine guns at the police who’ve established a cordon around the property. He introduces himself to the police as the superhero who captured the rest of the Serpent Squad out in the Pacific Ocean, but not knowing anything about him, they stop him from charging the building. One cop hits Nomad in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out cold. When he comes to, Nomad finds himself handcuffed to the front wheel of a police cruiser. To his horror, the police have advanced on the building and are getting mowed down by the villains’ gunfire. He uses his super-strength to tear the wheel off its axle and break out of the handcuffs, then storms into the house. He finds the Cobra cowering in a corner, convinced they’re both going to die, as Viper continues firing at the cops outside. A fire has started in the basement, filling the ground floor with smoke mixed with tear gas. Nomad confronts them, whereupon the Cobra offers token resistance while Viper rants about nihilism in service to the Serpent Crown. When Cobra tries to make a run for it, Viper shoots him in the back, intent on making him a martyr to her cause. Nomad is about to tackle her when he is knocked back by the stream of water from a firehose outside. The fire-damaged building suddenly collapses, burying Viper in rubble, but Nomad is able to grab the Cobra and get him outside to a waiting ambulance. The medics determine that the Cobra’s body armor saved the villain’s life. However, Nomad writes off Viper as dead when a gas main ruptures, obliterating the house in a tremendous explosion. Though a thorough search of the wreckage is made, no trace of the Serpent Crown can be found.
When he finally calls Sharon’s townhouse, Steve learns from Peggy that Sharon has left New York and moved back to their family estate in Virginia. Assuming Sharon has broken off their relationship, Steve is saddened but determines to carry on as Nomad. Having cast himself as a wanderer, he decides not to return to New York in favor of exploring the wide-open spaces of the American west on his motorcycle.
August–November 1967 – For the next four months, Nomad wanders the western United States, fighting crime, helping people out of jams, and enjoying his freedom. However, he is disturbed by the dark mood of the country and the political polarization caused by racial inequality and the ever-escalating Vietnam War. Eventually, he starts making his way across the Midwest, heading inexorably back towards New York City.
December 1967 – For about 18 hours, Nomad finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. Nomad then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
A week before Christmas, Nomad arrives in New York and goes looking for the Falcon. He comes across a Harlem costumed criminal called the Gamecock and his two henchmen and gets into a fight with them that ends abruptly when someone on an adjacent rooftop fires a bazooka at them. Before he can pursue either party, Nomad is confronted by Leila Taylor, who watched the fight from a safe distance. She reveals that the Falcon has been missing for three days, ever since he was seen in the company of a junior Captain America. Nomad isn’t sure what she means by that but rushes off, growing more concerned about his former partner’s whereabouts. After a frustrating encounter with street protestors valorizing the Serpent Squad as anti-corporate crusaders and trying to make Viper out to be a martyr, Nomad checks Sam Wilson’s office for clues. There, he runs into Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter and realizes that Peggy must have finished her training by now and become a full-fledged agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The pair is dismissive toward Nomad, thinking him to be a novice superhero, and assures him that they are already investigating Sam’s disappearance. Perhaps when Nomad has gained more experience, they suggest, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be willing to work with him. Reminded of how the Roxxon security detail treated him, Nomad decides not to argue the point and leaps out the window.
Next, Nomad shakes down the Harlem-based crime boss called Morgan, who admits to having hired the Gamecock to kill the Falcon but insists he has no idea where the hero disappeared to. Sensing Morgan is telling the truth, Nomad leaves, wondering what his next move should be. He comes across an irate crowd outside a recently robbed bank and calms them down by reminding them that their accounts are insured by the FDIC. He then stops at the Gem Theater in Times Square to consult with the super-detective Luke Cage, only to find that the “hero for hire” is out of town. Stumbling upon another crowd of panicky customers at the site of a second bank robbery, Nomad is subjected to a conspiracy-minded rant by a man convinced that the Committee to Regain America’s Principles heroically exposed Captain America as being in league with the Secret Empire. He cites Cap’s abrupt retirement as proof of his assertions. Frustrated by all the unforeseen negative consequences of his actions, Nomad berates himself. Then, he remembers that the Falcon had once mentioned following up on Professor X’s suggestion that his rapport with his pet falcon, Redwing, may mark him as a mutant. Thus, Nomad phones Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and speaks with the Beast, but none of the other X-Men are available. Beast assures Nomad that, if the Falcon is a mutant, he may just need some time alone to come to terms with that fact. It’s taken him a couple of years, he reveals, to deal with his own transformation into his current furry form and to find a measure of self-acceptance. Nomad is heartened by these words, but then Redwing swoops down, squawking at him. Realizing the bird wants him to follow, Nomad sets off across the rooftops again.
A few minutes later, Redwing leads Nomad to the body of a young man dressed as Captain America, hanging upside-down from a chimney. To his horror, he realizes the dead man is Roscoe Simons from the Brooklyn gymnasium where he used to work out, and that this must be whom Leila was referring to earlier. Nearby, Nomad discovers the Falcon, badly beaten and hogtied, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia. As he is freed, Falcon identifies their attacker as the Red Skull. Nomad is shocked, having thought the villain died in Las Vegas a year and a half ago. The Red Skull is clearly looking for a showdown with Captain America, but Steve is at first determined to maintain his Nomad identity, reasoning that Cap was merely a patriotic fantasy fueled by the onset of World War II. He could represent America while the country was united against external threats like the Axis powers, he feels, but in the five years since he emerged from suspended animation, he’s seen how badly things went awry in his absence, as evidenced by the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Secret Empire taking over the government. When the people entrusted with America’s future abused that trust, they proved themselves every bit as bad as the Red Skull. But then Steve asks himself how, if he was fully prepared to fight foreign enemies, could he balk at fighting domestic ones, even if they held positions of authority? His view of America was clearly too naïve and simplistic, he suddenly realizes, and his conception of his own role was all wrong—Captain America is not meant to represent the American people or their politics but to fight for the American Dream. And as Roscoe’s gruesome death makes clear, he can’t allow anyone else to wage that war for him. A grim determination comes over Steve, and after getting the Falcon to the hospital, he returns at last to Avengers Mansion, discards his Nomad suit, and gets his Captain America costume and shield out of storage. Donning his familiar red, white, and blue garb, Captain America vows to face all the nation’s enemies, whatever the threat and wherever it may originate.
For the next two weeks, Captain America and the Falcon hunt for the Red Skull. Though their quarry eludes them, the heroes know it’s only a matter of time until the inevitable clash with their ultimate foe.
Notes:
January–April 1967 – Black Spectre’s pranks are detailed in Daredevil #109.
May 1967 – Black Spectre is finally defeated in Daredevil #109–112 and Marvel Two-In-One #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes. Captain America and Sharon Carter then guest-star with the Fantastic Four in Marvel Two-In-One #4–5. For more on President Morris N. Richardson, see OMU: POTUS – Part Three.
June 1967 – Steve Rogers charts a new course for his life in Captain America #176 and following. The “Lucifer” who possesses Rafe Michel and Grover Raymond is not a demon, but an alien—the same alien responsible for crippling Charles Xavier. However, Steve never has the chance to learn of Lucifer’s true nature.
July 1967 – Madame Hydra actually killed the original Viper herself and stole his gear, then told the Serpent Squad that the police were responsible. Nomad catches up with his old teammates in Avengers #131. The aftermath of the battle with the Cobra and the new Viper (and her escape) is revealed in a flashback in Marvel Team-Up #84.
August–November 1967 – Most of Steve Rogers’ career as Nomad remains an Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe, as more time elapses between the last two installments of the Nomad saga than is apparent in the story as written.
December 1967 – Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in Thor #233. Steve’s taking up the mantle of Captain America again brings us up to Captain America #183.
Jump Back: Captain America – Year Five
Next Issue: Daredevil – Year Six
Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
Continuing on with... The True History of Captain America!
January–April 1967 – Burdened by the revelations from the recent Secret Empire fiasco, Steve Rogers continues performing routine duties as Captain America, though his heart is no longer in it. He attends Avengers meetings, works out in the team’s training facilities, and occasionally visits with the convalescent Whizzer—a former teammate from World War II whom he barely remembers due to the lingering effects of his post-cryogenic amnesia. Feeling the other Avengers don’t understand what he’s going through, Steve prefers to spend his nights sleeping on a cot in the office in Harlem where Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon, performs his day job as a social worker. He grows increasingly bitter about the way the public turned against him as a result of the Secret Empire’s smear campaign, believing that all the charity work and public service he’s performed over the last four years should have earned him the benefit of the doubt. He wonders if people have just come to take Captain America for granted, devaluing his heroism. On the other hand, old-fashioned hero worship has proven to have a dark side—all the corrupt politicians in league with the Secret Empire won the respect and admiration of a broad swath of the American public. Plus, no longer united by a common enemy like the Nazis, he realizes, Americans have slowly fragmented into squabbling factions, resulting in several competing notions of what the nation stands for. How is he supposed to embody such diverse, often mutually exclusive ideals?
Steve is infuriated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures Steve that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
May 1967 – The situation with Black Spectre goes from bad to worse when they claim to have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. The bomb threat turns out to be a hoax. Steve is relieved, but the incident makes him wonder if Captain America is really even needed anymore.
Steve takes a Sunday stroll through Central Park with his girlfriend, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, with whom he’s been spending a lot more time lately. Finding that several large animals have been set loose in the zoo, Steve dutifully changes into Captain America to check it out. However, he quickly discovers that the Thing has the situation well in hand. Inviting the couple back to the Baxter Building for coffee, the Thing explains that the commotion was caused by his young charge, Wundarr, a super-powered alien with the body of an adult and the mind of a toddler. Fortunately, the Sub-Mariner’s cousin Namorita and her college roommate have agreed to take responsibility for Wundarr, to the Thing’s great relief. When they arrive at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Cap and Sharon are greeted by Mister Fantastic and Medusa, who are performing maintenance on the team’s time machine. An accident causes a young woman named Tarin to materialize from the year 3014. Cap is horrified by Tarin’s tale of how she has spent the last seven years as a slave of the Badoon, vicious aliens who conquered the solar system, wiping out most of the human race in the process. The few humans who survive in slavery remember Captain America, she reveals, as a symbol of liberty and hope. In fact, the leaders of the resistance movement, known as “the Guardians of the Galaxy,” have even named their spaceship after him. Feeling personally invested in Tarin’s plight, as it reminds him of all those who suffered under Nazi domination during World War II, Cap asks to accompany Tarin back to the future. Sharon and the Thing eagerly volunteer as well. Uncertain of the dangers involved, Mister Fantastic offers them 24 hours in the future for a scouting mission. After briefing them on the time machine’s operation, Mister Fantastic sends Cap, Sharon, the Thing, and Tarin to the New York City of the 31st century.
Unfortunately, the three time-travelers are almost immediately captured by an armed patrol of zombie-like police—humans altered by the Badoon so they can neither feel pain nor be knocked unconscious—and a semi-armored creature known as the Monster of Badoon. Tarin manages to escape in the chaos, but the others are dragged before the alien leader, Sovereign Drang, and his sadistic aide, Inquisitor Ebor. Cap is subjected to a painful mind-probe but is soon rescued by the Thing, and with help from Sharon, they fight their way out of the palace and lose themselves in the darkened city streets. After several perilous hours, they finally make contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy when Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu rescue them from a Badoon patrol. Cap is fascinated by Astro’s tale of his own years spent in suspended animation, having left Earth in the late 1980s bound for Alpha Centauri aboard a sleeper ship. When he finally arrived a millennium later, Astro found himself a “man out of time,” much like Cap himself, as technological advances had allowed later human colonists to get there ahead of him. Learning that it was Astro who named the Guardians’ spaceship the Captain America, to honor his boyhood hero, Cap is a bit disheartened to realize that his legend has survived into the 31st century only because of this transplant from his own era. They soon rendezvous with Tarin and the rest of the human resistance movement, whereupon they stage a daring raid on the imperial palace and manage to capture Sovereign Drang despite sustaining heavy losses. Drang remains defiant, pointing out that the Badoon have conquered the entire solar system, so one rebel victory is inconsequential. Cap insists that the human war for independence is just beginning, a sentiment echoed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. A few hours later, the time machine’s glowing platform reappears and Cap, Sharon, and the Thing wish their new allies good luck before returning to the present day. After leaving the Baxter Building, Steve becomes dispirited by the thought that, despite whatever the Avengers may accomplish, humanity will be nearly wiped out by lizard people in a little over a thousand years.
Steve is annoyed when S.H.I.E.L.D. fabricates a story that former U.S. president Morris N. Richardson has died as a result of the health problems that led to his reported resignation last November. Steve knows this is part of the cover-up the agency engineered to prevent the public from learning that the duly-elected President of the United States was behind the Secret Empire’s conspiracy to turn America into a totalitarian dictatorship. Unaware of this, however, the media follows with numerous tributes hailing Richardson as a true American hero and patriot, much to Steve’s disgust. What little remaining faith Steve has in what Captain America represents collapses.
June 1967 – At Avengers Mansion one stormy evening, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, the Falcon, and Peggy Carter try to talk Cap out of abandoning his costumed identity, but his mind is made up. He has realized that he can no longer embody a nation that allowed its noble ideals to be turned into a cynical sham. The others are stunned by this turn of events and wonder what could possibly have happened to him inside the White House during the battle with the Secret Empire, but Cap maintains that he is not at liberty to discuss it. Sharon is supportive of his decision, so Steve locks his costume and shield away in a vault beneath the mansion and officially resigns from the team. The next morning, Steve gets into an argument with the Falcon, who can’t seem to accept that Captain America is no more. Finally, the Falcon flies off in a huff, so Steve heads over to Sharon’s Park Avenue townhouse. Along the way, he finds that Captain America’s retirement is the talk of the town. Most people seem either saddened or angered by the news, leaving Steve feeling even more isolated than before. Sharon insists that she’s happy with the choice he’s made and is looking forward to spending the day together. Later, however, while strolling past the city jail, they discover the Falcon has been beaten up by two assailants who have fled the scene. Falcon is furious that his partner was not there when he needed him, but Steve insists that he’s just a sympathetic bystander now. As the Falcon storms off, Steve wonders if quitting his superhero life is going to cost him all his friends. Sharon does her best to cheer him up.
The following day, while working out at a gymnasium in Brooklyn, Steve meets a jocular kid named Roscoe Simons, and they discuss Captain America’s mysterious retirement. Roscoe suggests that Cap should make a public appearance to explain why he’s no longer making public appearances, and Steve appreciates his wry sense of humor. He then heads over to Sharon’s townhouse to take her out for a day at the beach. The mood is spoiled, though, when Peggy arrives, distraught over Captain America’s “disappearance.” She is desperate to find him, having convinced herself that the man she loves is in terrible danger. Peggy still does not realize that her sister’s boyfriend Steve is the costumed hero she fell in love with during World War II. Gabe Jones, Peggy’s S.H.I.E.L.D. trainer, has brought her home due to her rapidly deteriorating emotional state and tries to guilt Steve into dealing with the situation before it wrecks Peggy’s new career. Steve is frustrated with the way he and Sharon have handled things since Peggy emerged from her catatonic state last year. As usual, though, Sharon doesn’t want to talk about it.
Several hours later, Steve is heading back to his cot in Sam Wilson’s office when he sees the Falcon blasted out of the sky by a trio of bulky robots that he’s fighting. Horrified, Steve realizes he can’t just walk away when his former partner is in such peril, so he dashes into a sporting goods store and buys a ski mask to disguise himself with. He then confronts two identically dressed villains, both of whom call themselves “Lucifer,” and stops them from killing the unconscious Falcon. During the ensuing battle, Steve maneuvers the robots into destroying each other, at the same time berating himself for leaping into action at the first opportunity despite all his agonized soul-searching. One after the other, the two villains collapse to the ground, convulsing in pain, and Steve realizes that “Lucifer” is actually some kind of entity—possibly demonic—possessing both men, and its malevolent energy has burned out its host bodies. There is nothing Steve can do as the two men die horribly. When he unmasks the two dead men, Steve finds that one is Rafe Michel, an acquaintance of the Falcon’s girlfriend, Leila Taylor, whom he met a couple years ago. The other is Grover Raymond, who served as the second Aries in the international crime cartel Zodiac until being arrested last November following their defeat by the Avengers. When Falcon comes to, he is humiliated and angry that Steve has swooped in to rescue him despite refusing to continue on as his partner. Falcon berates Steve for his ‘white savior’ act and tells him to stay out of his business from now on. Steve is discouraged, feeling that his new life is falling apart all around him.
Over the next couple weeks, Steve gets to know Roscoe Simons better during his daily workouts at the gym in Brooklyn and is buoyed by the kid’s upbeat attitude. He also spends time with Sharon every day, for she often seems to be the one bright spot in his now-mundane life. On the way back to Sharon’s townhouse from the grocery store one afternoon, Steve tells Sharon that it’s time to let Peggy know the truth about their love affair, feeling it’s wrong to allow her to persist with her romantic fantasy from the 1940s. He knows they did it to protect Peggy’s feelings, but now he fears it’s doing more harm than good. Suddenly, the couple is attacked by a costumed supervillain calling himself the Golden Archer, who shoots trick-arrows at them while speaking in a faux-Shakespearean style. Steve is concerned when he realizes the Golden Archer knows he used to be Captain America. Sharon is frustrated that the shadow of Steve’s former life is still hanging over them.
Later, the Golden Archer attacks again while Steve is working out at the gym, and Roscoe is amazed by Steve’s athleticism as he chases the villain off. Steve then returns to Sharon’s townhouse, where he broods on the fire escape until Peggy comes home from her day as a S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee. Keeping to the shadows, Steve calls out to Peggy, calling her by her old code name, “Mademoiselle.” Her joy quickly dissolves into tears as Steve informs her that what they had together during the war just can’t exist in the present day. Peggy runs off sobbing, and feeling like a heel, Steve is about to go after her when the Golden Archer intervenes. Enraged, Steve chases the villain across the rooftops, but the Golden Archer finally dazzles him with a flash-arrow and escapes. Fed up, Steve heads back to Sam Wilson’s office and sets a trap for his foe, propping up a dummy behind a window shade and then concealing himself on a rooftop across the street. Sure enough, the Golden Archer soon appears, whereupon Steve tackles him and quickly beats him into submission. The Golden Archer surrenders and pulls off his disguise, revealing himself to be Captain America’s former teammate Hawkeye. Steve is shocked, but Clint Barton quickly explains that he wanted to convince Steve that giving up being a superhero was a big mistake. Also, Clint is grateful that Steve took him under his wing after he joined the Avengers and helped him become a better man—now he wants to return the favor. Steve appreciates Clint’s good intentions but insists that Captain America is not coming back, despite what everybody seems to think. Clint suggests that Steve create a completely new superhero persona instead, so his skills and abilities won’t go to waste. Disenchanted with his civilian life, Steve admits he’s intrigued by the idea.
July 1967 – Over the next few days, Steve convinces himself that Hawkeye’s idea really has merit—he could return to the life of action and adventure that he loves without being burdened with conflicting ideas about what America symbolizes. However, when he tells Sharon of his decision to become a superhero again, she gets upset and reveals that she supported his decision to retire because she always saw his Captain America identity as an impediment to their relationship. She accepted it then, she explains, because Steve was firmly established in that role when they met—but she doesn’t want to go back to that life of constant danger, hoping instead they could settle down and live like a normal couple. Steve admits he hadn’t thought about it from her perspective but insists that being a superhero is something he was born to do. He suggests they go to Sharon’s parents’ estate in Virginia to devise his new identity and work out his plans, but she refuses, telling him to go by himself if it means that much to him. Stunned, Steve leaves her townhouse and makes his way back to Harlem, wondering why things will never just come together for him.
In the morning, Steve leaves New York and rides his motorcycle down to Virginia, where he is greeted warmly by Harrison Carter and their butler, Smithers. After retiring to his room, Steve sketches out various costume designs, eventually deciding to keep it simple and not too different from what he had before, though he does add a flowing cape for some superhero panache. While making his new black-and-gold costume, he considers a number of possible codenames. Realizing that he has come to feel like “a man without a country,” Steve settles on the name Nomad. Thus, in Washington, D.C. a few nights later, Nomad makes his public debut. Steve realizes he hasn’t felt so free and unfettered since his first missions as Captain America way back in 1941. As luck would have it, he stumbles upon the Serpent Squad—the Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, and a female Viper—kidnapping a man in front of a movie theater as his wife screams for help. Chasing the villains into the theater, Nomad is distracted for a moment when he realizes the film being shown is a documentary about Captain America. During the ensuing fight, the Eel reveals that his brother, the original Viper, has been killed by the police. It is then that Nomad recognizes the new Viper as none other than Madame Hydra, proving that she did survive their previous encounter. She claims to have taken up the Viper identity in tribute to the slain villain. Though the crooks berate him as an amateur, Nomad fares quite well against his four foes until he trips on his own cape and slams his jaw into the floor. While the hero is stunned, the Serpent Squad escapes with their captive. Furious with himself, Nomad rips off his cape and throws it away. When the police arrive moments later, Nomad learns that the kidnapping victim is Hugh Jones, the C.E.O. of the Roxxon oil conglomerate. He vows to track down the Serpent Squad and free their captive.
Frustrated by his lack of leads, Nomad stops by the Lincoln Memorial in search of inspiration. There, he runs into the Sub-Mariner, who is hunting down his nemesis, Warlord Krang. Namor shows little interest in Captain America’s new identity as Nomad, but when he mentions that Krang is in league with the Serpent Squad, Nomad suggests they combine forces. From a nearby car radio they hear Krang announcing that the Serpent Squad is responsible for kidnapping the head of Roxxon Oil. Hugh Jones then reads a prepared statement, but there’s something odd about his voice, which Namor recognizes as resulting from the influence of the Serpent Crown, an ancient mystical artifact from the sunken civilization of Lemuria. Nomad then phones S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and speaks with Nick Fury, who recognizes his voice. Fury confirms that Roxxon has an oil-drilling platform near the coordinates mentioned by Nomad, so the two heroes board Namor’s submarine, moored in the Potomac River, and set off at once for Lemuria at high speed. A few hours later, after passing through the Panama Canal, the submarine arrives at the Roxxon oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where it is still daylight. Wanting to prove himself in battle, Nomad asks the Sub-Mariner to hang back in the sub while he confronts the villains. Namor agrees, so Nomad climbs aboard the rig, where he finds Jones wearing the Serpent Crown and looking like he’s in a trance. The Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, Viper, and Krang are present as well, so Nomad, seeing a strange disturbance in the water near the platform, attacks them without delay. Their brawl is interrupted by the arrival of Roxxon helicopters that strafe the platform with machine guns. Krang snatches the Serpent Crown off Jones’s head and tosses it to Viper. She and the Cobra escape in their aircraft while the others are pinned down by the shooting. Jones quickly comes out of his trance and informs his security forces that he’s shut off the pumps to prevent Lemuria from rising, though Nomad’s not really sure what he’s talking about. Nomad loses his temper when the Roxxon security guards treat him with contempt, punching one guy in the face. Though the Eel and Princess Python are taken into custody, Krang leaps into the ocean and escapes. Thus, Nomad hurries back to the submarine so he and Namor can pursue the fugitive Atlantean warlord.
When they lose Krang’s trail in the western Pacific, the Sub-Mariner agrees to drop Nomad off in Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, where they’ve learned the Avengers are on a mission. Nomad soon catches up with Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Vision, and Mantis and tells them what he’s been up to. They are glad to see he’s back in action, though they find his new costume hard to get used to. They inform him of the Swordsman’s death in Peking, China, late last month at the hands of Kang the Conqueror, and of how his burial was disrupted by the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo. Nomad is surprised to hear that the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. When Hawkeye checks in with the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, he reports that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that news, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers apprised of his activities. When he arrives in California the next day, however, Nomad finds that his quarry has already left town. He soon tracks them north to Seattle, Washington.
Nomad finds Viper and the Cobra holed up inside an abandoned house in Seattle, firing machine guns at the police who’ve established a cordon around the property. He introduces himself to the police as the superhero who captured the rest of the Serpent Squad out in the Pacific Ocean, but not knowing anything about him, they stop him from charging the building. One cop hits Nomad in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out cold. When he comes to, Nomad finds himself handcuffed to the front wheel of a police cruiser. To his horror, the police have advanced on the building and are getting mowed down by the villains’ gunfire. He uses his super-strength to tear the wheel off its axle and break out of the handcuffs, then storms into the house. He finds the Cobra cowering in a corner, convinced they’re both going to die, as Viper continues firing at the cops outside. A fire has started in the basement, filling the ground floor with smoke mixed with tear gas. Nomad confronts them, whereupon the Cobra offers token resistance while Viper rants about nihilism in service to the Serpent Crown. When Cobra tries to make a run for it, Viper shoots him in the back, intent on making him a martyr to her cause. Nomad is about to tackle her when he is knocked back by the stream of water from a firehose outside. The fire-damaged building suddenly collapses, burying Viper in rubble, but Nomad is able to grab the Cobra and get him outside to a waiting ambulance. The medics determine that the Cobra’s body armor saved the villain’s life. However, Nomad writes off Viper as dead when a gas main ruptures, obliterating the house in a tremendous explosion. Though a thorough search of the wreckage is made, no trace of the Serpent Crown can be found.
When he finally calls Sharon’s townhouse, Steve learns from Peggy that Sharon has left New York and moved back to their family estate in Virginia. Assuming Sharon has broken off their relationship, Steve is saddened but determines to carry on as Nomad. Having cast himself as a wanderer, he decides not to return to New York in favor of exploring the wide-open spaces of the American west on his motorcycle.
August–November 1967 – For the next four months, Nomad wanders the western United States, fighting crime, helping people out of jams, and enjoying his freedom. However, he is disturbed by the dark mood of the country and the political polarization caused by racial inequality and the ever-escalating Vietnam War. Eventually, he starts making his way across the Midwest, heading inexorably back towards New York City.
December 1967 – For about 18 hours, Nomad finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. Nomad then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
A week before Christmas, Nomad arrives in New York and goes looking for the Falcon. He comes across a Harlem costumed criminal called the Gamecock and his two henchmen and gets into a fight with them that ends abruptly when someone on an adjacent rooftop fires a bazooka at them. Before he can pursue either party, Nomad is confronted by Leila Taylor, who watched the fight from a safe distance. She reveals that the Falcon has been missing for three days, ever since he was seen in the company of a junior Captain America. Nomad isn’t sure what she means by that but rushes off, growing more concerned about his former partner’s whereabouts. After a frustrating encounter with street protestors valorizing the Serpent Squad as anti-corporate crusaders and trying to make Viper out to be a martyr, Nomad checks Sam Wilson’s office for clues. There, he runs into Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter and realizes that Peggy must have finished her training by now and become a full-fledged agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The pair is dismissive toward Nomad, thinking him to be a novice superhero, and assures him that they are already investigating Sam’s disappearance. Perhaps when Nomad has gained more experience, they suggest, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be willing to work with him. Reminded of how the Roxxon security detail treated him, Nomad decides not to argue the point and leaps out the window.
Next, Nomad shakes down the Harlem-based crime boss called Morgan, who admits to having hired the Gamecock to kill the Falcon but insists he has no idea where the hero disappeared to. Sensing Morgan is telling the truth, Nomad leaves, wondering what his next move should be. He comes across an irate crowd outside a recently robbed bank and calms them down by reminding them that their accounts are insured by the FDIC. He then stops at the Gem Theater in Times Square to consult with the super-detective Luke Cage, only to find that the “hero for hire” is out of town. Stumbling upon another crowd of panicky customers at the site of a second bank robbery, Nomad is subjected to a conspiracy-minded rant by a man convinced that the Committee to Regain America’s Principles heroically exposed Captain America as being in league with the Secret Empire. He cites Cap’s abrupt retirement as proof of his assertions. Frustrated by all the unforeseen negative consequences of his actions, Nomad berates himself. Then, he remembers that the Falcon had once mentioned following up on Professor X’s suggestion that his rapport with his pet falcon, Redwing, may mark him as a mutant. Thus, Nomad phones Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and speaks with the Beast, but none of the other X-Men are available. Beast assures Nomad that, if the Falcon is a mutant, he may just need some time alone to come to terms with that fact. It’s taken him a couple of years, he reveals, to deal with his own transformation into his current furry form and to find a measure of self-acceptance. Nomad is heartened by these words, but then Redwing swoops down, squawking at him. Realizing the bird wants him to follow, Nomad sets off across the rooftops again.
A few minutes later, Redwing leads Nomad to the body of a young man dressed as Captain America, hanging upside-down from a chimney. To his horror, he realizes the dead man is Roscoe Simons from the Brooklyn gymnasium where he used to work out, and that this must be whom Leila was referring to earlier. Nearby, Nomad discovers the Falcon, badly beaten and hogtied, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia. As he is freed, Falcon identifies their attacker as the Red Skull. Nomad is shocked, having thought the villain died in Las Vegas a year and a half ago. The Red Skull is clearly looking for a showdown with Captain America, but Steve is at first determined to maintain his Nomad identity, reasoning that Cap was merely a patriotic fantasy fueled by the onset of World War II. He could represent America while the country was united against external threats like the Axis powers, he feels, but in the five years since he emerged from suspended animation, he’s seen how badly things went awry in his absence, as evidenced by the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Secret Empire taking over the government. When the people entrusted with America’s future abused that trust, they proved themselves every bit as bad as the Red Skull. But then Steve asks himself how, if he was fully prepared to fight foreign enemies, could he balk at fighting domestic ones, even if they held positions of authority? His view of America was clearly too naïve and simplistic, he suddenly realizes, and his conception of his own role was all wrong—Captain America is not meant to represent the American people or their politics but to fight for the American Dream. And as Roscoe’s gruesome death makes clear, he can’t allow anyone else to wage that war for him. A grim determination comes over Steve, and after getting the Falcon to the hospital, he returns at last to Avengers Mansion, discards his Nomad suit, and gets his Captain America costume and shield out of storage. Donning his familiar red, white, and blue garb, Captain America vows to face all the nation’s enemies, whatever the threat and wherever it may originate.
For the next two weeks, Captain America and the Falcon hunt for the Red Skull. Though their quarry eludes them, the heroes know it’s only a matter of time until the inevitable clash with their ultimate foe.
Notes:
January–April 1967 – Black Spectre’s pranks are detailed in Daredevil #109.
May 1967 – Black Spectre is finally defeated in Daredevil #109–112 and Marvel Two-In-One #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes. Captain America and Sharon Carter then guest-star with the Fantastic Four in Marvel Two-In-One #4–5. For more on President Morris N. Richardson, see OMU: POTUS – Part Three.
June 1967 – Steve Rogers charts a new course for his life in Captain America #176 and following. The “Lucifer” who possesses Rafe Michel and Grover Raymond is not a demon, but an alien—the same alien responsible for crippling Charles Xavier. However, Steve never has the chance to learn of Lucifer’s true nature.
July 1967 – Madame Hydra actually killed the original Viper herself and stole his gear, then told the Serpent Squad that the police were responsible. Nomad catches up with his old teammates in Avengers #131. The aftermath of the battle with the Cobra and the new Viper (and her escape) is revealed in a flashback in Marvel Team-Up #84.
August–November 1967 – Most of Steve Rogers’ career as Nomad remains an Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe, as more time elapses between the last two installments of the Nomad saga than is apparent in the story as written.
December 1967 – Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in Thor #233. Steve’s taking up the mantle of Captain America again brings us up to Captain America #183.
Jump Back: Captain America – Year Five
Next Issue: Daredevil – Year Six
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)